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BOOKS  BY 


PROFESSOR  ROLLIN  H.  WALKER 

A  STUDY  OF  GENESIS  AND  EXODUS 
STUDY  OF  JOHN’S  GOSPEL 
STUDY  OF  LUKE’S  GOSPEL 

A  BOOK  OF  DRAMAS  ON  AMOS,  HOSEA,  ISAIAH,  AND 
THE  HERALD  OF  THE  RESTORATION 


V 


NOV  14  is; 


MEN  UNAFRAID 


■«  5  Ip  t'<  4s  5j-  k»  " 


FOUR  PIONEERS  OF  PROPHECY 


A  Study  of 

AMOS,  HOSEA,  ISAIAH, 
AND  THE  HERALD  OF 
THE  RESTORATION 


“  Men  divinely  taught, 

And  better  teaching,  in  their  majestic,  unaffected  style, 
The  solid  rules  of  civil  government  than  all  the  orators 
of  Greece  and  Rome.”-  M ilton. 


BY 

ROLLIN  H.  WALKER 


THE  METHODIST  BOOK  CONCERN 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


Copyright,  1923 

ROLLIN  H.  WALKER 


The  Bible  text  used  in  this  volume  is  taken  from  the  American 
Standard  Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,  copyright,  1901,  by 
Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  and  is  used  by  permission. 


In  tl.c 


United  States  cn  /. mar  r-v 


To  My  Uncle 


WILLIAM  R.  WALKER 

WHO  HAS  BEEN  IN  THE  PLACE  OF  A  FATHER 
TO  ME  FOR  MANY  YEARS 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Preface .  7 

To  the  Teacher .  9 

Chronological  Table .  13 

Why  Study  the  Prophets .  15 

Amos — 

The  Times  of  Amos .  19 

Amos  the  Man .  25 

The  Message  of  Amos .  35 

Hosea— 

The  Times  of  Hosea .  45 

Hosea  the  Man .  50 

The  Message  of  Hosea .  55 

Isaiah— 

The  Literary  Peculiarities  of  the  Book .  65 

Isaiah’s  Diagnosis  of  the  Conditions  in  Judah  at  the 

Beginning  of  his  Ministry.  Chapters  2-5 .  71 

Isaiah’s  Inaugural  Vision.  Chapter  6 .  79 

The  Invasion  of  Judah  from  Northern  Israel  and 

Damascus.  Chapters  7  and  8 .  86 

The  Prophecies  of  the  Coming  of  Christ .  91 

Principles  of  Interpretation. 

The  Immanuel  Prophecy.  7.  1-17. 

The  Wonderful  Child.  9.  1-7. 

The  Supreme  Judge  and  Deliverer.  11.  i-io. 

The  Sure  Foundation.  28.  14-22. 

The  Ideal  Social  Order.  32.  1-5. 

5 


6 


Contents 


PAGE 


The  International  Outlook  of  Hebrew  Prophecy. 

Chapters  13-23 .  1 1 5 

The  Invasion  of  Sennacherib.  Chapters  22,  33,  36,  37. 

701  B.  C .  124 

The  Herald  of  the  Restoration — 

The  Yosemite  .Valley  of  the  Old  Testament.  Isaiah 

40-66 .  139 

The  Announcement  of  the  Return.  Chapters  40-48  ....  143 

The  Suffering  Servant  of  Jehovah.  Chapters  49-53.  .  .  149 

The  Ideal  Jerusalem.  Chapters  54-66 .  156 


PREFACE 


After  one  has  caught  the  vision  of  the  greatness  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets  all  his  attempts  to  expound  them 
seem  to  him  like  an  attempt  to  render  the  oratorio  of 
“The  Messiah”  with  “the  vile  squealing  of  the  wry- 
neck’t  fife.”  When  he  is  done  he  feels  an  impulse  to 
look  around  for  a  priest  to  confess  his  sins. 

The  hope  of  the  writer  is  that  the  young  people  who 
read  this  book  may  catch  something  of  the  enthusiasm 
that  glows  through  its  imperfections,  and  may  supple¬ 
ment  it  by  their  ready  and  vivid  imaginations.  Then 
they,  too,  in  turn,  will  know  what  it  means  to  feel  more 
than  they  can  express  and,  like  dumb  Zacharias,  will  be 
able  only  to  make  signs  that  they  have  seen  a  vision. 

But  this  vision  of  the  greatness  of  the  prophets  will 
only  come  after  patient  reading  and  rereading  of  their 
words.  The  only  way  to  get  the  real  inspiration  that 
comes  from  the  study  of  these  ancient  seers  is  to  be¬ 
come  a  little  like  them  in  their  invincible  concentration 
of  mind.  A  class  that  plans  merely  to  take  a  hasty 
glance  at  Amos,  Hosea,  and  Isaiah  is  doomed  to  disap¬ 
pointment.  That  would  be  like  a  hurried  attempt  to 
build  a  bonfire  out  of  a  deeply  lying  coal  mine.  The 
prophets  are  not  pine  boxes  for  kindling  wood;  they  are 

7 


8 


Preface 


unmined  anthracite.  But  any  young  person  who  wishes 
to  lay  in  fuel  for  the  winter  storms  of  life,  and  to  get 
help  for  the  stern  tasks  of  reform  and  social  betterment, 
will  find  in  them  enough  coal  for  all  his  needs.  There  is 
enough  fuel  in  the  Hebrew  prophets  to  heat  the  furnaces 
of  eloquence  for  a  thousand  years. 

I  am  under  much  obligation  to  the  little  group  of 
teachers  of  the  English  Bible  with  whom  I  have  the 
honor  of  working  day  by  day.  In  particular,  Miss 
Goldie  McCue  has  made  valuable  suggestions  which  I 
have  been  glad  to  accept.  : 


TO  THE  TEACHER 


The  one  task  of  the  teacher  is  to  devise  means  to 
keep  his  class  reading  and  rereading  the  Biblical  text 
in  search  for  the  ideas  which  the  prophets  themselves 
were  most  anxious  to  impress.  The  commonest  snare 
into  which  a  Bible  teacher  falls  is  the  snare  of  giving  a 
course  about  the  Bible  rather  than  in  the  Bible.  But 
sustained  enthusiasm  is  secured  by  bringing  the  class 
into  direct  contact  with  the  great  writers  themselves. 

The  Search  Questions  on  the  Biblical  Text  which  fol¬ 
low  each  section  of  this  book  are  designed  for  this  pur¬ 
pose.  They  are  constructed  on  a  plan  that  has  been 
found  successful  with  many  hundreds  of  students.  The 
teacher  who  does  not  use  the  Search  Questions  as  lesson 
assignments  will  miss  the  best  contribution  of  this  book 
towards  keeping  up  interest  in  the  study  of  the  prophets. 
References  to  chapters  are  usually  given  in  order  that 
the  student  may  not  be  sent  on  too  long  and  discourag¬ 
ing  a  hunt,  but  the  verses  are  not  given  in  order  that  he 
may  have  an  opportunity  to  exercise  his  discrimination. 

The  teacher  will  often  find  it  advantageous  to  use  the 
Search  Questions  as  a  program  for  the  class  discussion. 
They  are  arranged  with  a  definite  outline  of  classroom 
work  in  mind.  Often,  however,  the  teacher  will  wish 
to  give  the  class  a  chance  to  answer  the  Search  Ques¬ 
tions  rapidly,  and  then  to  pursue  his  own  way  after¬ 
ward.  In  many  of  the  lessons  there  are  more  questions 

9 


IO 


To  the  Teacher 


than  the  average  student  can  be  persuaded  to  look  up. 
In  these  cases  it  will  be  wise  to  hand  out  some  of  the 
questions  at  the  close  of  the  previous  lesson  as  special 
assignments  to  individual  members  of  the  class.  In  this 
way  all  of  them  can  be  covered.  Students  should  be 
told  that  in  case  they  cannot  do  both,  it  is  much 
better  to  look  up  the  answers  to  the  Search  Questions 
than  to  read  the  lesson  discussion.  The  reading  matter 
in  this  book  is  meant  to  be  simply  a  tonic  to  increase 
the  student’s  appetite  for  the  reading  of  the  prophets 
themselves. 

Certain  parts  of  the  book  will  be  found  somewhat 
difficult  for  young  people,  but  it  will  be  noticed  that  the 
questions  in  the  lesson  assignments  are  carefully 
adapted  to  them,  and  an  enthusiastic  teacher  will  be 
able  to  inspire  even  the  younger  members  of  the  class 
to  find  out  for  themselves  by  independent  studv  the 
answers  to  most  of  the  questions. 

Some  teachers  would  doubtless  have  preferred  that 
the  writer  had  ignored  the  results  of  the  modern  scien¬ 
tific  scrutiny  of  the  Bible.  But  such  a  course  is  fraught 
with  great  peril  to  the  faith  of  the  rising  generation. 
If  we  who  believe  in  the  Bible  do  not  take  these  matters 
up  with  them  someone  who  does  not  believe  in  the 
Bible  will.  Scientists  tell  us  that  certain  disease  germs 
feebly  developed  under  unfavorable  conditions,  like  a 
low  temperature,  gradually  weaken  in  their  destructive 
power,  and  finally  become  vaccines  against  the  disease. 
On  the  basis  of  long  experience  in  the  classroom  labora¬ 
tory  the  writer  is  certain  that  the  germs  of  Biblical 
criticism,  which  have  been  developed  in  this  book 


To  the  Teacher 


i  i 

under  the  “detrimental  environment”  of  a  vivid  sense 
of  God,  are  vaccines  that  tend  to  render  the  student 
immune  to  that  destructive  criticism  which  has  been 
such  a  blight  to  the  church. 

The  teacher  should  constantly  encourage  the  class  to 
bring  in  analogies  to  modern  literature.  A  quotation, 
for  instance,  from  one  of  Whittier’s  anti-slavery  poems, 
would  enrich  the  discussion  of  Amos’  words  against 
selling  the  needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes. 

The  method  pursued  by  the  teacher  must  be  deter¬ 
mined  by  the  nature  of  the  class  and  the  number  of 
meetings  that  can  be  given  to  the  work.  The  lists  of 
Search  Questions  on  the  Biblical  Text  are  fifteen  in 
number.  If  for  any  reason  it  seems  impracticable  to 
try  to  hold  the  class  together  for  more  than  say  eight 
sessions,  it  is  suggested  that  the  class  attempt  to  cover 
the  lessons  on  Amos  and  Isaiah,  omitting  “Isaiah’s 
Diagnosis  of  the  Conditions  in  Judah  at  the  Beginning 
of  His  Ministry”  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they  are  so 
very  similar  to  those  which  Amos  described  in  northern 
Israel. 

An  enlarged  outline  of  the  map  found  on  page  164, 
and  also  of  the  chronological  table  on  page  13,  will  be  a 
help  to  the  teacher  if  they  are  kept  hanging  before  the 
eyes  of  the  class.  Some  member  of  the  class  is  usually 
willing  and  able  to  produce  such  helps  quite  success¬ 
fully. 

Little  dramas  of  about  fifteen  minutes  in  length  have 
been  prepared  on  each  of  the  prophets  studied  in  this 
book,  and  issued  by  the  same  publishers  under  the 
title  “Fearless  Men.”  It  will  add  to  the  enthu- 


12 


To  the  Teacher 


siasm  of  the  class  if  the  students  are  preparing  to 
present  them  while  they  are  studying  this  course. 

LITERATURE 

A  full  list  of  the  literature  can  be  found  in  the  Bible 
dictionaries.  The  following  will  be  helpful  for  general 
use: 

AMOS  AND  HOSEA 

Driver,  S.  R. — Joel  and  Amos,  The  Cambridge  Bible;  New  York: 
Macmillan.  The  most  usable  popular  commentary  on  Amos. 

Eiselen,  F.  C. — The  Minor  Prophets,  Whedon’s  Commentary;  New 
York:  Methodist  Book  Concern. 

Smith,  J.  M.  P. — Amos,  Hosea  and  Micah,  The  Bible  for  Home  and 
Schools;  New  York:  Macmillan. 

Smith,  George  Adam — The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets,  Vol.  I, 
The  Expositor’s  Bible;  New  York:  Doran. 

ISAIAH 

Skinner,  J. — Isaiah,  The  Cambridge  Bible;  New  York:  Macmillan. 

McFadyen,  J  E. — The  Book  of  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  The  Bible 
for  Home  and  Schools;  New  York:  Macmillan. 

Smith,  George  Adam— Isaiah,  The  Expositor’s  Bible;  New  York: 
Doran. 

For  a  general  survey  of  the  prophets  discussed  in 
this  book,  “The  Beacon  Lights  of  Prophecy,”  by  Pro¬ 
fessor  A.  C.  Knudson  (New  York:  Methodist  Book 
Concern),  is  helpful. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


765-745  ? 
750-736? 

745 

740 

735 

721 

701 

607 


604-561 

586 

538 


Prophecies  of  Amos. 

Prophecies  of  Hosea. 

Accession  of  Tiglath-pileser  and  the  renewal 
of  Assyrian  ascendency. 

Death  of  Uzziah,  king  of  Judah,  and  call  of 
Isaiah. 

Invasion  of  Judah  by  Damascus  and  Israel. 

Capture  of  Samaria,  chief  city  of  Israel, 
by  the  Assyrians. 

Invasion  of  Judah  by  the  Assyrians  under 
Sennacherib. 

The  Fall  of  Nineveh,  and  the  end  of  Assyrian 
domination. 

Reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  of  Babylon. 

Fall  of  Jerusalem  and  the  beginning  of  the 
Exile. 

Cyrus,  the  Median,  captures  Babylon. 


13 


WHY  STUDY  THE  PROPHETS 


A  college  student  with  no  pronounced  interest  at  the 
beginning  of  a  survey  of  the  prophets  later  surprised 
the  teacher  by  saying,  “The  value  of  this  course  is  the 
light  it  sheds  on  the  now."  And  then,  looking  up  into 
the  face  of  the  teacher,  he  asked  with  sudden  emotion, 
“Do  you  believe  the  United  States  can  continue  to 
exist  if  we  go  on  as  we  are  doing?”  The  prophets  had 
done  their  work  with  the  lad.  He  was  right  in  feeling 
that  when  these  men  said  the  things  that  were  true  in 
their  own  day  they  were  saying  also  the  things  that 
always  had  been  true  and  always  will  be  true. 

The  prophets  saw  with  unusual  clearness  the  condi¬ 
tions  of  their  own  time,  and  announced  the  eternal  prin¬ 
ciples  of  divine  providence  which  would  operate  when¬ 
ever  those  conditions  were  present.  Like  great  chem¬ 
ists  in  the  laboratory  of  life,  they  discovered  for  all  time 
that  the  combination  of  certain  social  elements  under 
certain  conditions  would  bring  about  certain  inevitable 
results  in  human  life.  Given,  for  instance,  at  any  time 
in  the  world’s  history  highly  centralized  wealth  in  the 
hands  of  a  godless  and  unprincipled  few,  a  discouraged 
and  discontented  working  class,  and  a  formal  and 
paganized  religion,  and  we  have  a  high  social  explosive 
as  certain  as  TNT,  and  far  more  deadly.  If  we  really 
understand  these  ancient  seers  in  the  light  of  their  his¬ 
torical  situation,  and  if  we  take  the  trouble  to  know  our 


1 6  Why  Study  the  Prophets 

own  day,  we  can  have  the  word  of  God  for  our  genera¬ 
tion. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  advantage  from  the  study  of 
the  prophets.  Back  of  the  prophetic  message  stands  a 
great  personality.  If  we  but  pay  the  price  of  intel¬ 
lectual  effort  we  can  soon  see  the  bronzed  glow  in  their 
cheeks,  catch  the  glint  of  their  eyes,  see  the  furtive 
smiles  and  tears  that  play  across  their  sensitive  counte¬ 
nances,  and  at  last  add  them  as  personal  friends  to  the 
group  of  those  we  love. 

As  we  come  to  know  these  men  something  of  their 
spirit  will  become  our  own.  Our  thinking  will  become 
more  vital,  our  imagination  more  active,  our  speech 
more  impressive,  our  championship  of  the  oppressed 
more  vigorous,  and  our  sense  of  God  in  human  life 
more  real.  Furthermore,  the  example  of  Amos,  Hosea, 
and  Isaiah  will  make  us  brave  to  face  the  disapproval 
of  the  majority  and  keep  us  from  discouragement  when 
the  current  goes  against  us.  Finally,  as  the  result  of 
our  study  of  the  great  divine  process  leading  up  to 
Jesus,  his  position  in  history  will  seem  more  august  and 
assured,  and  his  teachings  more  luminous  and  sug¬ 
gestive. 


AMOS 


From  a  Copley  print.  Copyright.  1898,  by  Curtis  &  Cameron, 
Publishers,  Boston. 


AMOS 


THE  TIMES  OF  AMOS 

Political  and  Social  Conditions 

At  the  very  beginning  of  our  study  it  should  be  said 
that  the  Hebrew  prophets  are  not  exactly  what  one 
might  call  eating  apples,  but  they  are  famous  cooking 
apples.  Apply  the  heat  to  them  by  laboriously  working 
your  way  back  into  the  historical  situation,  simmer 
them  on  the  fires  of  meditation,  and  they  will  become 
great  sources  of  inspiration  and  helpfulness. 

We  must  therefore  ask  the  reader  to  go  back  with  us 
to  the  eighth  century  before  Christ  and  learn  something 
of  the  conditions  which  Amos  faced.  After  the  death  of 
Solomon  the  ten  northern  tribes  of  Israel  revolted 
under  Jeroboam,  and  thereafter  for  over  two  hundred 
years,  until  they  were  carried  away  captive  in  721, 
there  were  two  separate  kingdoms,  the  kingdom  of 
Judah  in  the  south  and  the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  the 
north.  Jeroboam  the  Second,  in  whose  reign  Amos 
prophesied,  ruled  Israel  from  about  782  to  741.  Hj 
was  a  great  conqueror.  The  borders  of  Israel  had  been 
extended  to  the  boundaries  which  had  been  laid  out  by 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  prophet  Jonah  (2  Kings  14.  25), 
and  men  might  well  say  in  the  face  of  all  this  prosperity 
that  God  was  indeed  with  Israel,  that  theirs  was  the 
age  to  which  the  seers  had  pointed,  and  that  the  high 
tide  of  divine  favor  had  now  set  in. 

It  is  likely  that  if  a  modern  tourist,  with  an  eye  for 
the  esthetic  rather  than  the  moral  aspects  of  life,  could 

l9 


20 


Men  Unafraid 


have  visited  Israel  at  this  time,  he  would  have  sent 
back  a  glowing  account  of  its  splendid  civilization. 
Life  was  full  of  the  beautiful.  The  country  was  dotted 
with  palaces.  Men  decorated  their  abodes  with  ivory; 
they  invented  “for  themselves  instruments  of  music, 
tike  David”;  they  lived  “at  ease  in  Zion”  (6.  i,  4,  5). 

But  the  prophet  Amos,  coming  to  these  self-satisfied 
and  ease-loving  people,  looked  beneath  the  surface  of 
this  outward  magnificence  and  saw  the  corruption  of 
their  inner  life.  Every  crime  against  which  the  merciful 
land  laws  of  Israel  sought  to  guard  seems  to  have  been 
in  vogue.  Wealth  was  centralized.  Men  stored  up 
violence  and  robbery  in  their  palaces  (3.  10),  and  the 
natural  result  followed.  Ease  soon  degenerated  into 
corruption.  Society  was  rotten  at  the  top.  They  drank 
wine  not  in  wine  glasses,  but  in  big  bowls  (6.  6).  The 
fashionable  women  were  coarse  and  drunken,  and  the 
prophet  reminded  them  that  in  spite  of  their  elegant 
attire  and  fine  ways  they  were  living  low,  animal  lives. 
He  addressed  them  roughly  as  “kine  of  Bashan”  (4.  1), 
or,  as  we  would  say,  “fat  Durham  cows.”  Imagine 
such  a  word  from  a  fashionable  modern  pulpit! 

The  rich  nobles  were  evidently  dominant  in  the  time 
of  Jeroboam  II.  It  is  likely  that  this  ascendency  was 
partially  due  to  the  great  monarch’s  military  program. 
While  the  common  people  fought  for  their  country, 
shrewd  nobles  at  home  devoured  their  living.  The 
wretchedness  of  the  poor  may  also  have  been  due  in  a 
measure  to  the  drouths,  insect  ravages  and  pestilences 
through  which  the  nation  had  recently  passed  (4.  6-11). 
Such  times  have  ever  been  a  supreme  opportunity  for 


Amos 


21 


the  wealthy  to  swallow  up  the  possessions  of  the  poor. 
(Compare  Genesis  47.  13-26.)  The  method  of  the 
modern  monopoly  had  already  been  learned,  and  the 
poor  were  forced  to  buy  the  refuse  of  the  wheat  at  ex¬ 
orbitant  prices  (8.  4-6). 

In  spite  of  the  strong  hand  of  Jeroboam  th  re  were 
not  a  few  uprisings  among  the  common  people  (3. 
9,  10).  These  were  doubtless  speedily  suppressed,  but 
the  prophet  saw  in  them  signs  that  the  day  of  reckoning 
was  at  hand.  He  of  course  knew  that  a  soldiery  which 
must  be  recruited  from  the  peasant  class  could  not  be 
counted  on  to  fight  with  spirit  for  a  government  that 
oppressed  them;  and  he  knew  that  even  if  they  would 
fight,  a  drunken  and  licentious  nobility  could  never 
lead  them  to  victory.  And  yet  for  the  time  being, 
things  seemed  to  be  going  very  well.  A  recent  misfor¬ 
tune  of  Damascus,  their  great  rival,  at  the  hands  of 
Assyria  had  made  the  prosperity  of  Israel  all  the 
greater.  It  was  similar  to  the  prosperity  that  America 
enjoyed  during  the  European  war. 

Religious  Conditions 

From  various  references  in  the  prophecy  we  plainly 
see  that  the  religious  ceremonies  were  elaborate.  The 
rude  prophet  from  the  south  seefned  out  of  harmony  in 
their  midst  (7.  12).  The  worship  of  Jehovah  was  en¬ 
riched  with  music  (5.  23).  Men  were  so  enthusiastic 
in  their  religious  zeal  that  they  far  exceeded  the  de¬ 
mands  of  the  law,  and  brought  their  sacrifices  every 
morning  and  their  tithes  every  three  days  (4.  4,  5). 
It  is  likely  that  the  priests  used  the  ancient  and  beauti- 


22 


Men  Unafraid 


tul  forms  of  worship  just  as  many  a  fashionable  congre¬ 
gation  clings  to  the  time-honored  and  sacred  formu¬ 
laries  of  the  church.  And  doubtless  many  of  them 
were  conscientious.  As  usual  where  there  is  a  state 
religion,  the  priests  were  the  champions  of  the  rulers 
who  were  responsible  for  the  bad  social  conditions 
among  the  people  (7.  10-12).  And  there  are  dark  hints 
that  the  places  of  worship  had  become  places  of  gross 
immorality  (2.  7,  8).  As  Davidson  says,  they  were 
“worshiping  Jehovah  after  a  heathenish  fashion.” 

Prophecy  of  the  true  sort  was  distasteful  to  the  people 
(2.  11,  12).  Youthful  enthusiasm  that  felt  the  stirrings 
of  the  Divine  fire  was  smothered  out  by  popular  disap¬ 
proval.  The  young  Nazirites  who,  in  protest  against 
the  prevailing  luxury  and  vice,  gave  themselves  to 
stern  self-denial  like  modern  athletes  in  training,  were 
ridiculed  and  surrounded  by  enticements  to  drink. 
And  although  men  scrupulously  observed  the  Sabbath 
and  other  holy  days,  such  times  were  a  weariness  to 
them,  for  they  kept  saying,  “When  will  the  new  moon 
be  gone  that  we  may  sell  grain,  and  the  Sabbath  that 
we  may  set  forth  wheat,  making  the  ephah  small  and 
the  shekel  great,  and  dealing  falsely  with  balances  of 
deceit?”  (8.  4-6.) 

There  was  much  cant  in  the  conversation  of  the 
people.  They  said  sanctimoniously,  “The  Lord  is 
with  us”  (5.  14).  They  professed  to  be  longing  for  the 
day  when  Jehovah  would  come  and  vindicate  his  right¬ 
eous  cause  (5.  18),  but  they  always  thought  of  this 
“day  of  the  Lord”  as  a  time  of  increased  prosperity  for 
themselves  and  vengeance  upon  their  enemies,  and 


Amos 


23 


never  as  a  time  when  justice  should  “roll  down  as 
waters,  and  righteousness  as  a  mighty  stream”  (5.  24). 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  What  does  the  book  of  Kings  tell  us  concerning  the  character 
and  exploits  of  Jeroboam  the  Second,  who  was  king  of  Israel  in  the 
times  of  Amos?  See  2  Kings  14.  23-29. 

(Many  students  who  desire  to  see  the  times  of  Amos  in  their  re¬ 
lation  to  the  general  course  of  Jewish  history  will  be  glad  to  begin  at 
the  first  chapter  of  the  book  of  Kings  and  read  the  first  fourteen 
chapters.) 

2.  What  light  upon  the  moral  condition  of  the  surrounding 
heathen  nations  do  we  get  from  Amos’  indictment  of  them  in  1.  1 
to  2.  3  ? 

3.  Where  in  Chapters  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  and  8  have  we  plain  evidence 
that  in  the  times  of  Amos  the  poor  suffered  bitter  injustice  and  op¬ 
pression? 

4.  What  indication  do  we  find  in  Chapter  2  that  this  oppression 
of  the  poor  was  causing  them  to  begin  to  rise  in  protesting  mobs  and 
disorder? 

5.  Where  in  Chapters  3  and  6  do  we  find  evidence  that  the  rich 
lived  in  idle  and  selfish  luxury  on  their  ill-gotten  gains? 

6.  Where  in  Chapter  6  are  we  told  that  the  rich  would  not  be¬ 
lieve  that  punishment  was  coming  upon  them  for  their  sins? 

7.  Where  in  Chapter  4  do  we  find  rough  words  addressed  to  the 
fashionable  ladies  of  Samaria  which  indicate  that  they  were  leading 
low,  animal  lives,  and  by  reason  of  their  demands  upon  their  husbands 
were  at  least  partly  responsible  for  the  oppression  of  the  poor? 

8.  We  find  in  Chapter  3  what  evidence  of  gross  social  vice  among 
the  people,  and  that  this  vice  was  practiced  even  in  the  precincts  of 
the  sanctuaries? 

9.  What  evidence  do  we  find  in  Chapters  4  and  5  that  in  spite  of 
all  this  immorality  the  people  were  fastidious  in  the  observance  of  the 
outward  forms  of  worship,  and  liberal  in  their  gifts  to  religion? 

10.  What  indication  do  you  find  in  Chapters  2,5,  and  7  that  the 
age  was  one  which  opposed  the  prophet  and  the  reformer,  and  dis¬ 
couraged  the  Nazirite  who  gave  himself  to  the  simple  and  abstemious 
life? 

11.  To  what  modern  conditions  would  Amos’  words  concerning 
the  oppression  of  the  poor  be  applicable?  A  slight  change  in  the  form 


24 


Men  Unafraid 


of  these  words  often  makes  them  very  vivid  portrayals  of  prevailing 
conditions. 

12.  Of  what  modern  conditions  does  Amos’  description  of  the 
hollow  religious  formalism  of  his  day  remind  you? 

13.  Do  you  know  of  any  modern  instance  where  oppression  of 
the  poor  and  immoral  greed  have  been  associated  with  a  fever  of  re¬ 
ligious  activity  and  zeal? 


AMOS  THE  MAN 

His  Call 

Amos  is  especially  interesting  to  us  because  he  is  the 
first  of  the  prophets  whose  message  has  come  down  to 
us  in  written  form.  And  the  fact  that  his  prophecy 
is  held  in  honor  after  these  twenty-eight  hundred  years 
makes  us  eager- to  know  something  about  the  man. 

He  tells  us  himself  that  he  was  a  herdsman  of  Tekoa, 
a  little  place  about  six  miles  southeast  of  Jerusalem,  in 
a  rocky  region  overlooking  the  valley  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
In  his  book  we  find  many  illustrations  which  betray 
the  eye  of  the  man  who  is  accustomed  to  follow  the 
flock.  He  says,  for  instance,  that  the  fate  of  Israel 
shall  be  as  when  “the  shepherd  rescueth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  the  lion  two  legs  or  a  piece  of  an  ear”  (3.  12). 
This  herdsman  of  Judah  became  a  foreign  missionary, 
for  he  was  a  prophet  to  the  people  of  Israel,  the  north¬ 
ern  kingdom. 

We  have  no  definite  description  of  the  call  of  Amos, 
but  from  his  own  words  we  know  that  it  was  of  over¬ 
powering  intensity.  He  was  driven  to  his  task  by  his 
conviction  as  a  cannon  ball  is  driven  from  a  cannon. 
His  message  of  doom  was  so  unwelcome  to  Israel,  and 
seemed  to  them  so  preposterous,  that  they  would  of 
course  constantly  call  it  in  question;  and  he  needed  to 
have,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  an  experience  of  unquestion¬ 
able  authority.  The  force  that  carried  him  along  was 
so  overwhelming  that  he  thought  everybody  ought  to 

25 


26 


Men  Unafraid 


recognize  it  as  a  divine  power.  Do  you  think,  he  seems 
to  say,  that  I  would  bring  you  this  offensive  message 
that  keeps  me  in  constant  battle  with  you  if  there  was 
not  back  of  it  the  urge  of  God  himself?  “The  Lord 
Jehovah  hath  spoken;  who  can  but  prophesy?”  (3.  8.) 

In  reply  to  the  skepticism  of  the  crowds  as  to  his 
divine  authority  Amos  asked  them  a  series  of  questions: 
“Shall  two  walk  together,  except  they  have  agreed? 
Will  a  lion  roar  in  the  forest  when  he  hath  no  prey? 
Can  a  bird  fall  in  a  snare  upon  the  earth  where  no  gin 
is  set  for  him?”  In  these  uneasy  times,  when  everyone 
fears  an  inroad,  will  the  sudden  wild  blare  of  the 
trumpet  be  heard  in  a  city  and  not  cause  the  people  to 
shudder?  Will  calamity  come  upon  a  town  save  by  the 
permission  of  Jehovah  (3.  3-6)?  Nothing  happens 
without  a  cause,  and  every  cause  has  its  sure  effect. 
Can  you  not  see,  he  seems  to  say,  the  sins  that  cry  for 
judgment,  and  the  judgments  that  proclaim  the  dis¬ 
approval  of  God?  You  ask  for  the  proof  of  my  call. 
For  a  man  who  believes  in  a  good  and  just  God  everything 
he  sees  is  a  call  to  proclaim  the  coming  punishment. 

Amos  called  out  dramatically  for  the  nobles  from 
heathen  cities  to  come  and  look  down  upon  Samaria, 
and  behold  what  tumults  and  oppressions  were  therein 
(3.  9)!  Even  a  heathen,  he  suggests,  would  see  that 
judgment  must  come  upon  Israel.  It  did  not  require 
the  insight  of  a  prophet.  Every  time  he  looked  at  a 
group  of  despairing  and  plundered  peasants  this  sight 
said  in  loudest  tones,  They  will  not  fight  against  the 
foreign  invader,  for  they  have  nothing  to  fight  for. 
And  every  time  he  beheld  the  drunken  and  effeminate 


Amos 


27 


nobles  their  faces  showed  him  unmistakably  that  if  a 
foreign  invader  should  come  they  would  not  be  able  to 
lead  the  people  against  him.  He  knew  instinctively 
that  God  always  has  a  flock  of  vultures  for  such  a  de¬ 
caying  condition.  Just  as  soon  as  Amos  sensed  the 
designs  of  the  great  and  powerful  Assyrian  empire  upon 
western  Asia  he  saw  that  the  coming  of  the  doom  was 
inevitable.  And  he  said  to  the  people,  I  am  simply 
calling  attention  to  what  God  is  saying  in  all  your  ears 
if  only  you  would  listen.  All  voices,  those  which  whis¬ 
per  in  my  inner  soul  and  those  which  clamor  like  a  fire- 
bell  in  all  that  I  see  in  the  world  about  me,  unite  to 
speak  one  mighty  word  of  God — doom! 

Of  course  the  prophet  hoped  for  some  extraordinary 
repentance  of  Israel  that  would  lead  to  a  supernatural 
deliverance.  That  this  repentance  might  be  brought 
about  was  the  aim  and  object  of  his  startling  prophecy. 
But  if  the  people  continued  as  they  were  he  thought 
that  anyone  ought  to  see  the  inevitable  result.  In  this 
feeling  that  the  truth  he  proclaimed  ought  to  be  per¬ 
fectly  obvious  to  the  people,  he  was  like  Jesus,  who 
said:  “Ye  know  how  to  interpret  the  face  of  the  earth 
and  the  heaven;  but  how  is  it  that  ye  know  not  how 
to  interpret  this  time?  And  why  even  of  yourselves 
judge  ye  not  what  is  right”  (Luke  12.  56,  57)?  The 
wonder  to  Amos  was  not  that  he  could  see  the  impend¬ 
ing  invasion,  but  that  the  people  were  blind  to  it. 

Amos  and  the  High  Priest 

When  Amos  went  up  to  the  great  sanctuary  at  Beth-el 
and,  among  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  that  doubtless  were 


28 


Men  Unafraid 


assembled  there,  began  to  tell  them  of  his  visions  of 
coming  wrath,  Amaziah,  the  chief  priest,  said  unto 
him:  “O  thou  seer,  go,  flee  thou  away  into  the  land  of 
Judah,  and  there  eat  bread,  and  prophesy  there:  but 
prophesy  not  again  any  more  at  Beth-el,  for  it  is  the 
king’s  sanctuary,  and  it  is  a  royal  house”  (7.  12,  13). 
If  Amos  had  not  been  getting  a  following  Amaziah 
would  scarcely  have  taken  the  trouble  to  rebuke  him. 
Perhaps  the  temple  offering  was  beginning  to  fall  off. 
The  high  priest,  like  the  other  priests  and  prophets  of 
his  day,  was  mercenary,  and  he  could  conceive  of  no 
other  motive  for  Amos’  preaching  than  the  desire  for 
gain.  So  he  addressed  him  as  though  he  were  a  com¬ 
mon  street  fakir  who  wished  to  attract  a  crowd  and 
gather  some  money,  and  he  told  him  that  the  sanctuary 
at  Beth-el  was  no  place  for  such  wandering  creatures. 
Amos  resented  the  insinuation  that  he  was  a  mere  hire¬ 
ling.  “I  was  no  prophet,”  said  he,  “neither  was  I  a 
prophet’s  son.”  That  is,  I  was  not  trained  in  the 
prophetic  guilds;  I  have  no  connection  with  them. 
“Jehovah  took  me  from  following  the  flock,  and  Je¬ 
hovah  said  unto  me,  Go,  prophesy  unto  my  people 
Israel”  (7.  14,  15).  Doubtless  the  prophets  of  that  day 
were  not  in  good  standing  with  the  common  people  as 
sincere  and  unselfish  men,  and  Amos  did  not  want  to 
have  his  message  discounted  by  having  a  “Reverend” 
before  his  name.  Furthermore,  he  was  not  a  trained 
prophet,  but  only  a  herdsman  propelled  by  the  divine 
thrusting  on,  and  he  wanted  to  stand  in  his  true  char¬ 
acter. 


Amos 


29 


Watchful  Expectancy 

At  the  root  of  Amos’  prophetic  conviction  we  find 
this  great  assumption,  “Surely  the  Lord  Jehovah  will 
do  nothing,  except  he  reveal  his  secret  unto  his  servants 
the  prophets’’  (3.  7).  He  believed  in  a  God  of  love  who 
minutely  and  tenderly  cares  for  his  people.  If  a  man 
will  tell  a  friend  whatever  would  be  good  for  him  to 
know,  much  more,  thought  Amos,  will  the  good  Father 
in  heaven  continually  reveal  himself  to  those  who  are 
listening  for  his  message.  More  than  this,  Amos  be¬ 
lieved  that  God  would  reveal  himself  in  plain  and 
simple  ways.  He  assumed  that  divine  ingenuity  was 
being  exhausted  in  the  attempt  of  Jehovah  to  make 
himself  known  to  the  people.  All  that  God  did  was  to 
Amos  the  word  of  God.  And  this  assurance  that  the 
word  of  God  is  found  not  in  the  exceptional  alone,  but 
also  in  the  ordinary,  tended  to  make  him  a  veritable 
incarnation  of  sagacity  and  common  sense. 

But  while  Amos  dwelt  upon  the  obvious  in  religion 
and  in  morals,  there  is  nevertheless  about  him  a  great 
element  of  mystery.  The  prevailing  religious  concep¬ 
tions  of  the  times  were  the  shallowest  and  the  most 
perverted.  And  yet  here  is  this  marvelous  creative 
genius,  the  very  mouthpiece  of  God.  How  did  this 
humble  shepherd  succeed  in  thinking  so  deeply  and  so 
solidly,  and  in  laying  a  foundation  so  broad  and  so 
deep  that  when  Jesus  came  after  the  long  centuries  he 
could  build  upon  it  the  everlasting  and  heaven-reaching 
structure  of  his  gospel?  The  most  natural  explanation 
is  that  which  the  ages  have  given:  Amos  was  inspired 
of  God. 


30 


Men  Unafraid 


How  Amos  Was  Educated 

But  this  assertion  that  Amos  was  inspired  by  God  is 
taken  by  some  to  mean  that  his  mind  did  not  work 
according  to  ordinary  laws  and  that  he  did  not  fulfill 
ordinary  conditions  for  mental  growth.  This,  however, 
is  far  from  the  truth.  His  insight  did  not  come  in  one 
great  flash.  Amos  was  doubtless  a  man  of  most 
extraordinary  mental  concentration.  The  ancient 
prophets  were  not  diverted  by  the  thousand  interrup¬ 
tions  that  tend  to  keep  the  modern  mind  in  a  state 
of  scattering  confusion.  The  artificial  light  which 
makes  possible  to  us  so  much  desultory  and  profitless 
amusement  was  denied  them,  and  they  were  -forced  to 
spend  their  evenings  out  under  the  open  sky  in  wonder 
and  in  worship.  They  spent  many  long  hours  in  that 
meditation  which  Ian  Maclaren  says  is  a  lost  art. 

Then,  too,  Amos,  like  all  of  the  prophets,  received 
constant  inspiration  from  nature.  Whenever  his  at¬ 
tention  was  especially  attracted  to  some  natural  ob¬ 
ject  he  seemed  to  hear  God  saying,  “Amos,  what  seest 
thou?”  Scientifically  he  knew  vastly  less  about  nature 
than  the  modern  man  of  education,  but  he  was  doubt¬ 
less  much  more  awed  by  it.  Nature  was  to  him  a 
reminder  and  a  revealer  of  the  thought  of  God,  a  sacra¬ 
ment  of  his  truth. 

One  of  the  chief  explanations  of  Amos’  insight  is 
found  in  his  habit  of  prayer.  He  does  not  obtrude 
upon  us  the  fact  that  he  lived  a  life  of  prayer,  but  it 
shines  out  through  his  prophecy.  He  prayed  against 
the  doom  that  he  pronounced.  He  centered  his  mind 
intensely  and  painfully  upon  the  needs  and  sufferings 


Amos 


31 


of  the  downtrodden  and  the  outraged  (8.  4-7),  and  the 
burden  of  their  woe  became  so  great  that  he  was  driven 
to  avail  himself  to  the  full  of  the  inspiration  and  the 
light  of  God. 

And  then  Amos  was  supremely  brave  and  self-sacri¬ 
ficing  in  the  utterance  of  his  message.  And  the  courage 
with  which,  even  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  he  instantly 
proclaimed  the  convictions  that  came  to  him  opened 
his  mind  to  floods  of  new  truth.  As  he  was  bravely 
loyal  to  the  one  talent  of  truth  that  was  given  to  him, 
God  rewarded  him  by  giving  him  ten  talents.  His  eye 
was  “single,”  and  therefore,  according  to  the  promise, 
his  “whole  body  was  full  of  light.” 

Furthermore,  the  prophet  insisted  on  looking  at  life 
as  a  whole.  He  would  not  be  a  narrow  provincial 
Judaean,  but  bore  the  burden  of  the  woes  and  the  sins 
of  all  the  surrounding  peoples  with  whom  he  was 
acquainted.  He  seems  to  have  been  chemically  pure 
from  Jewish  arrogance.  He  even  hears  the  Lord  asking, 
“Are  ye  not  as  the  children  of  the  Ethiopians  unto  me, 
O  children  of  Israel”  (9.  7)?  Or,  as  we  would  put  it, 
You  and  a  Negro  look  both  alike  to  God.  Again  he  hears 
Jehovah  saying,  “Have  not  I  brought  up  .  .  .  the 

Philistines  from  Caphtor,  and  the  Syrians  from  Kir”  (9. 
7)?  God’s  merciful  hand  has  been  in  the  migrations 
of  all  the  peoples,  not  merely  in  the  deliverance  of 
Israel  from  Egypt.  By  this  insistence  that  nothing 
human  should  be  foreign  to  him,  Amos  opened  the 
windows  of  his  soul  to  floods  of  heavenly  light  and 
sanity. 


32 


Men  Unafraid 


Was  Amos  Unsympathetic? 

Some  people  find  no  expressions  of  sympathy  in  the 
prophecy  of  Amos,  and  they  say  he  must  have  been  a 
man  of  harsh  and  unloving  nature.  But  because  a 
surgeon  does  not  weep  over  his  patient  is  no  sign  that 
he  is  not  tender.  Indeed  a  man  is  never  heroic  and  un¬ 
selfish  without  love.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  proph¬ 
et’s  temperament  was  somewhat  stern,  but  there  were 
flowers  growing  over  the  granite  ledge.  It  should  al¬ 
ways  be  remembered  that  one  of  the  chief  springs  and 
motives  of  Amos’  denunciations  was  his  indignation 
over  the  oppression  of  the  poor.  If  he  had  a  tongue  like 
a  whip  for  the  oppressor,  it  spoke  out  of  a  heart  of  love 
for  the  oppressed.  He  was  fierce  because  he  was  loving. 
We  may  say  of  him  as  Whittier  said  of  another: 

Not  for  thyself,  but  for  the  slave 

Thy  words  of  thunder  shook  the  world; 

No  selfish  griefs  or  hatred  gave 

The  strength  wherewith  thy  bolts  were  hurled. 

From  lips  that  Sinai’s  trumpet  blew 
We  heard  a  tender  under  song; 

Thv  v^ry  wrath  from  pity  grew, 

From  love  of  man  thy  hate  of  wrong. 

The  nation  had  drunk  deep  of  the  opiate  of  sin,  and 
Amos  conceived  it  to  be  his  part  to  shout  in  its  ears 
and  handle  it  with  that  same  roughness  which  men  use 
to  waken  a  loved  one  out  of  the  stupor  produced  by  a 
drug.  His  prophecy  is  molten  metal  heated  in  the 
furnace  of  pity. 


Amos 


33 


SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  What  do  you  learn  from  Chapter  i  as  to  where  Amos  lived? 
Was  this  town  in  Judah  or  in  northern  Israel? 

2.  What  evidence  can  you  find  in  Chapter  7  as  to  Amos’  way  of 
earning  a  livelihood?  Having  found  this  passage,  find  a  passage  in 
Chapter  3  where  the  figures  of  speech  which  he  uses  would  be  natural 
to  one  of  such  an  occupation. 

3.  Where  in  Chapter  2  do  you  find  evidence  that  the  prophet 
was  thrilled  by  the  great  hero  tales  of  Israel’s  conquest  of  Palestine? 

4.  In  what  words  in  Chapter  3  does  Amos  show  that  he  lived  in 
perfect  confidence  that  God  would  reveal  to  sensitive  and  eager  souls 
what  he  was  intending  to  do  in  the  world?  Compare  John  16.  12,  13, 
for  Jesus’  assurance  to  his  disciples  that  they  likewise  need  not  be 
taken  by  surprise,  but  could  be  prepared  for  things  to  come. 

5.  Where  in  Chapter  3  do  you  find  evidence  that  Amos  believed 
that  God’s  world  was  a  place  where  nothing  happened  by  chance,  and 
where  what  God  did  was  to  be  interpreted  by  wise  and  eager  men  as 
the  voice  of  God?  Do  you  think  Amos’  call  came  only  from  an  inner 
impression,  or  also  from  observing  the  happenings  around  him? 

6.  See  Luke  12.  54-56  for  a  passage  in  which  Jesus  also  suggests 
that  outward  events  and  tendencies  are  voices  of  God  which  should 
be  heeded  and  understood  by  all  sincere  men. 

7.  Where  in  Chapter  3  do  you  find  the  suggestion  that  Amos’ 
call  to  proclaim  the  word  of  God  had  come  with  a  powerful  intensity? 

8.  Where  in  Chapter  3  do  we  hear  the  prophet  suggest  that 
while  his  commission  to  speak  had  come  overpoweringly,  really  the 
conditions  against  which  he  was  called  to  protest  seemed  so  obviously 
bad  that  he  thought  even  the  people  of  the  heathen  Philistine  cities 
ought  to  see  that  something  dreadful  must  happen  to  Israel? 

9.  Can  you  imagine  anything  that  might  account  for  the  bitter¬ 
ness  of  Amos’  reference  to  the  way  in  which  young  prophets  were  dis¬ 
couraged  in  Israel? 

10.  Where  in  Chapter  7  do  you  find  indications  that  Amos  came 
into  collision  with  the  high  priests,  and  that  they  evidently  regarded 
him  with  contempt  as  a  dangerous  fanatic  who  was  seeking  to  eke 
out  a  living  by  his  prophecies?  For  a  parallel  encounter  in  the  life  of 
Jesus  see  Luke  20.  1-20. 

11.  Where  in  Chapter  7  do  you  find  indications  that  Amos  did 
not  wish  to  be  classified  with  the  mere  professional  prophets  of  his 
country,  but  rather  wanted  to  be  known  as  a  common,  hard-working 


34 


Men  Unafraid 


man  who  had  been  impelled  by  the  burning  conviction  withiti  him  to 
speak  the  word  of  God  to  the  people? 

12.  Some  great  scholars  say  that  Amos  was  a  man  of  cold  and 
unsympathetic  temper. 

(1)  What  evidence  do  you  find  in  Chapter  7  that  Amos,  instead 
of  taking  a  fierce  delight  in  pronouncing  doom  upon  the  people, 
was  accustomed  to  pray  piteously  to  God  to  avert  the  disasters 
which  he  foresaw? 

(2)  Can  you  find  evidence  in  Chapter  6  that  Amos  even  con¬ 
sidered  it  a  sin  not  to  mourn  over  the  troubles  of  the  poor  and  dis¬ 
tressed  people  of  the  land? 

(3)  What  is  the  cause  of  his  fierce  wrath?  insults  to  himself 
personally,  or  wrongs  done  to  the  peasants? 

(4)  When  a  man  flames  with  wrath  because  the  poor  man  is 
turned  away  from  his  just  due,  is  it  right  to  call  him  unsympa¬ 
thetic  and  hard? 

13.  What  indication  do  you  find  in  Chapter  9  that  Amos  was 
singularly  free  from  the  racial  arrogance  of  the  Jews,  and:  believed 
that  God’s  merciful  hand  had  been  in  the  history  of  the  other  nations? 

14.  What  evidence  do  you  find  in  the  first  part  of  the  prophecy 
that  Amos  had  an  international  outlook  and  felt  called  upon  to  utter 
prophecies  concerning  the  future  not  merely  of  his  own  country,  but 
also  of  all  the  nations  round  about? 

15.  What  evidence  do  you  find  in  the  book  that  Amos  had  a  very 
vivid  imagination,  and  knew  how  to  express  himself  with  picturesque 
force? 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  AMOS 


“Is  not  my  word  like  fire?  saith  Jehovah;  and  like  a  hammer  that 
breaketh  the  rock  in  pieces?” — Jeremiah.  23.  29. 

The  prophecy  of  Amos  was  uttered  “two  years  be¬ 
fore  the  earthquake”  (1.  1).  Anyone  can  preach  about 
a  calamity  standing  upon  the  ruins,  but  it  takes  a 
prophet  to  proclaim  it  while  the  flowers  are  blooming 
and  all  the  people  are  in  gala  attire.  Amos  did  for  his 
day  exactly  what  a  prophet  of  1900  would  have  done  if, 
in  the  heyday  of  prosperity  that  men  were  then  re¬ 
joicing  in,  he  had  proclaimed  with  burning  certitude 
the  awful  calamity  of  the  World  War.  He  deemed  it 
to  be  his  task  to  tell  why  the  calamity  was  coming  upon 
the  people,  and  what  they  might  do  to  avert  it. 

He  began  by  taking  up  one  by  one  the  nations  bor¬ 
dering  upon  Israel,  and  pointing  out  the  sins  for  which 
they  were  to  be  punished.  It  is  noticeable  that  he  did 
not  rebuke  them  for  failure  to  obey  the  Jewish  law 
which  they  did  not  know,  but  for  sins  of  inhumanity 
against  which  the  conscience  of  any  savage  would  nor¬ 
mally  revolt.  Mostly  they  were  to  be  condemned  for 
cruelty  in  time  of  victory,  and  that  not  merely  after 
victories  over  Israel  but  over  one  another.  Moab,  for 
instance,  was  condemned  for  atrocities  committed 
against  Edom,  Israel’s  worst  enemy.  In  this  Amos 
shows  his  impartial  attitude  and  makes  good  his  claim 
to  be  a  spokesman  for  God.  The  modern,  of  course, 
would  say  that  the  memories  of  these  ancient  wrongs 

35 


36 


Men  Unafraid 


committed  against  one  another  made  the  tribes  of 
western  Asia,  like  the  tribes  of  the  Balkans  to-day, 
incapable  of  co-operating  in  time  of  danger,  and  thus 
assured  their  defeat.  But  the  prophet  after  his  more 
religious  and  vital  fashion  emphasizes  the  direct  hand 
of  God  in  the  coming  punishment. 

For  Amos  to  begin  with  these  denunciations  of  woe 
upon  the  surrounding  nations  was  very  tactful,  and 
doubtless  the  audience  responded  with  fervent  Amens. 
When  he  turned  to  Israel,  however,  his  message  was 
startling  and  unexpected.  “Hear  this  word  that  Je¬ 
hovah  hath  spoken  against  you,  O  children  of  Israel, 
against  the  whole  family  which  I  brought  up  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  saying,  You  only  have  I  known  of  all 
the  families  of  the  earth:  therefore  I  will  visit  upon  you 
all  your  iniquities”  (3.  1,  2).  One  of  the  most  sig¬ 
nificant  “therefores”  in  history,  that!  His  hearers 
expected  him  to  say,  Therefore  will  I  be  lenient  with 
your  sins.  But  Amos  takes  the  position  of  Jesus,  “To 
whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  re¬ 
quired”  (Luke  12.  48).  This  principle  is  one  of  the 
fundamental  presuppositions  of  Amos’  prophecy. 

Amos  had  a  thrilled  sense  of  Israel’s  mighty  past  and 
of  the  great  mercies  of  Jehovah  toward  his  people. 
“Yet  destroyed  I  the  Amorite  before  them,  whose 
height  was  like  the  height  of  the  cedars,  and  he  was 
strong  as  the  oaks;  yet  I  destroyed  his  fruit  from  above, 
and  his  roots  from  beneath”  (2.  9).  And  to  the  mind  of 
Amos  God’s  great  deliverance  in  the  past  made  their 
present  disloyalty  seem  all  the  worse. 

The  heart  of  Amos’  indictment  of  the  nation  is  his 


Amos 


37 


condemnation  of  inhumanity.  They  “buy  the  poor  for 
silver,  and  the  needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes”  (8.  6).  They 
“trample  upon  the  poor,  and  take  exactions  from  him  of 
wheat”  (5.  11).  Or,  as  we  would  say,  they  corner  the 
wheat  market.  “They  turn  aside  the  needy  in  the  gate 
from  their  right”  (5.  12),  that  is,  they  corrupt  the 
courts.  They  turn  “justice  into  gall,  and  the  fruit  of 
righteousness  into  wormwood”  (6.  12).  The  priests 
were  very  much  more  afraid  of  neglecting  the  appro¬ 
priate  sacrifices  than  they  were  of  overlooking  justice 
and  kindness.  But  Amos  insisted  that  “to  do  right¬ 
eousness  and  justice  is  more  acceptable  to  Jehovah 
than  sacrifice”  (Proverbs  21.  3).  He  knew  that  the  one 
fatal  sin  of  the  people  was  to  be  found  in  the  greed  of  its 
ruling  classes  and  their  indifference  to  the  sufferings  of 
the  poor.  A  profiteer,  from  Amos’  point  of  view, 
seemed  a  far  more  dangerous  man  than  a  thrower  of 
bombs.  The  extreme  luxury  of  the  rich,  in  view  of  the 
oppression  which  it  cost,  was  criminal  in  his  sight;  and 
he  deemed  the  fashionable  ladies  of  Samaria  quite  as 
guilty  as  their  lords,  because  by  their  demands  they 
well-nigh  forced  them  to  make  greater  extortions. 
This  ancient  message  seems  like  a  special  dispatch  to 
the  luxurious  life  of  our  own  day,  for  evervone  knows 
the  close  relation  between  the  wife’s  costly  demands 
for  fashion  and  show  and  the  husband’s  temptation  to 
become  a  profiteer. 

If  there  was  one  thing  that  made  Amos  fiercer  than 
the  oppression  of  the  poor  it  was  the  hollow,  formal 
worship  of  Jehovah  practiced  at  Beth-el  and  Gilgal. 
If  they  had  been  indulging  in  their  brutal  inhumanity 


3» 


Men  Unafraid 


and  not  at  the  same  time  making  a  pretense  of  Jehovah- 
worship,  they  would  have  known  that  they  were  a  god¬ 
less  nation.  But  they  stupefied  their  consciences  bv 
being  all  the  more  zealous  in  their  worship.  Amos 
called  out  ironically:  “Come  to  Beth-el,  and  transgress; 
to  Gilgal,  and  multiply  transgression;  and  bring  your 
sacrifices  every  morning,  and  your  tithes  every  three 
days;  .  .  .  for  this  pleaseth  you,  O  ye  children  of 

Israel,  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah”  (4.  4,  5).  In  his  wrath 
against  the  priests  who  were  responsible  for  this  condi¬ 
tion  Amos  resembles  Jesus  in  his  fierce  words  against 
the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  who  devoured  widows’ 
houses  and  for  a  pretense  made  long  prayers.  One  of 
the  final  visions  of  Amos  is  a  dream  wherein  he  sees  the 
people  gathered  together  in  the  temple,  and  hears  God 
command  his  angel  to  break  in  the  roof  upon  them  that 
they  all  might  be  slain  (9.  1). 

This  picture  of  future  doom  grows  out  of  his  sense  of 
the  sure  enforcement  of  the  moral  law.  Amos  felt  that 
a  man  could  not  get  away  from  it  any  more  than  he 
could  run  away  from  his  skeleton.  How  vividly  he 
expressed  this!  “As  if  a  man  did  flee  from  a  lion,  and  a 
bear  met  him;  or  went  into  the  house  and  leaned  his 
hand  on  the  wall,  and  a  serpent  bit  him”  (5.  19).  Hear 
his  picturesque  words:  “Though  they  dig  into  Sheol, 
thence  shall  my  hand  take  them;  and  though  they 
climb  up  to  heaven,  thence  will  I  bring  them  down. 
And  though  they  hide  themselves  in  the  top  of  Carmel, 
I  will  search  and  take  them  out  thence;  and  though 
they  be  hid  from  my  sight  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
thence  will  I  command  the  serpent,  and  it  shall  bite 


Amos 


39 


them”  (9.  2,  3).  To  Amos  the  moral  law  was  as  ines¬ 
capable  as  the  law  of  gravitation. 

We  wonder  that  in  that  early  day  Amos  was  able  to 
see  deeply  enough  into  the  laws  of  life  to  realize  that 
there  was  a  close  connection  between  the  materialism 
of  the  people  and  the  dying  out  of  the  fires  of  prophecy. 
They  said  to  their  prophets,  Prophesy  not!  and  they 
impatiently  wished  for  the  end  of  the  Sabbath  day  so 
that  they  could  plunge  again  into  their  mad  quest  for 
money.  And  the  outcome,  says  Amos,  will  be  exactly 
fitted  to  their  sin.  He  warns  them  that  a  time  is  coming 
when  they  will  gladly  give  all  their  gold  if  they  may 
only  have  again  the  comfort  and  guidance  of  a  man  of 
God.  But  it  will  be  too  late.  There  will  be  a  famine 
“of  hearing  the  words  of  Jehovah.  And  they  shall 
wander  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  north  even  to  the 
east;  they  shall  run  to  and  fro  to  seek  the  word  of  Je¬ 
hovah,  and  shall  not  find  it”  (8.  12). 

The  circle  of  spiritual  illumination  which  Christianity 
has  drawn  is  much  wider  than  that  which  we  see  in  the 
prophet  Amos,  but  the  circle  of  Amos  is  still  in  the 
center.  To  Amos  religion  without  righteousness  was 
inconceivable.  To  seek  God  was  to  seek  good.  And 
that,  of  course,  was  the  message  of  Jesus.  Amos’  mes¬ 
sage  as  over  against  that  of  Jesus  is  like  a  rough  char¬ 
coal  sketch  compared  with  a  rich  hued  and  glorious 
landscape  in  oil.  The  wonder  is,  however,  that  when 
the  great  Painter  came  he  needed  to  make  so  little 
change  in  Amos’  drawing.  The  outline  was  correct. 
He  only  needed  to  add,  and  scarcely  at  all  to  alter.  The 
world  will  never  get  away  from  the  great  fact  that  the 


4o 


Men  Unafraid 


very  essence  of  religion  is  justice  and  humanity,  and 
from  the  fact  that  all  religious  worship  which  is  divorced 
from  a  decent  life  is  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God. 
The  gospel  is  and  forever  will  be  founded  upon  the 
principles  which  Amos  laid  down.  History  is  increas- 
ingly  proving  him  to  be  right,  and  every  time  the  clock 
strikes  in  the  steeple  it  registers  the  passing  of  an  hour 
in  which  the  logic  of  events  has  added  one  more  proof 
of  the  eternal  rightness  of  his  message. 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  The  prophet  pronounces  doom  upon  the  surounding  nations 
not  because  they  did  not  offer  sacrifices  according  to  the  Jewish  law, 
but  because  they  had  committed  moral  outrages  that  the  universal 
conscience  condemns.  What  is  the  nature  of  these  outrages?  See 
i.  i  to  2.  3. 

2.  Where  in  Chapter  9  does  the  prophet  say  that  God  looks  upon 
all  races  and  nations  alike  as  his  children,  and  thus  suggests  that 
Israel  need  look  for  no  special  leniency?  Compare  Jesus  in  Matthew 

8-  U:3- 

3.  Where  in  Chapter  3  does  he  even  insist  that  the  special  privi¬ 
leges  of  Israel  mean  special  responsibility,  and  that  their  sins  will  be 
visited  upon  them  all  the  more  severely? 

4.  In  what  words  in  Chapter  3  does  the  prophet,  in  order  to 
make  their  ingratitude  seem  more  blameworthy,  remind  Israel  of  the 
great  things  God  has  done  for  them  in  the  past? 

5.  Where  in  Chapter  4  does  the  prophet  show  that  the  sin  of 
Israel  is  all  the  more  serious  because  the  nation  has  hardened  itself 
against  the  afflictions  that  were  sent  to  remind  them  of  their  helpless¬ 
ness  and  graciously  to  influence  them  to  return  to  God? 

6.  Find  the  places  where  the  prophet  predicts  punishment  for 
Israel  on  account  of  injustice  and  oppression.  This  is  the  very  heart 
of  his  message. 

7.  What  in  Chapter  4  is  the  message  of  Amos  to  the  rich  ladies 
of  Samaria? 

8.  Where  in  Chapters  3, 4,  and  6  does  Amos  show  that  oppression 
of  the  poor  rouses  him  to  all  the  greater  wrath  because  it  is  associated 


Amos 


4i 


with  such  luxury  on  the  part  of  the  ruling  class?  Compare  Jesus  in 
Luke  12.  13-21;  16.  19-31. 

9.  Where  in  Chapter  4  does  the  prophet  ironically  call  the  people 
to  their  worship  at  the  sanctuaries  in  Beth-el  and  Gilgal,  where  they 
seek  to  make  up  for  the  lack  of  common  honesty  and  decency  by 
special  zeal  in  sacrifice  and  offerings?  Where  in  Chapter  5  does  he 
plainly  exhort  them  to  keep  away  from  these  places?  Compare 
Jesus’  words  to  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  in  Matthew  23.  23-26 
for  a  close  analogy  to  Amos’  attitude  toward  the  corrupt  religionists 
of  his  day. 

10.  Where  in  Chapter  9  does  he  see  in  a  vision  the  destruction 
of  heaven  coming  upon  the  people  at  the  very  time  they  were  gath¬ 
ered  in  the  temple  engaged  in  the  paganized  worship  of  Jehovah? 

11.  Where  in  Chapter  8  does  the  prophet  show  that  the  ma¬ 
terialism  of  the  people  and  their  gross  misuse  of  the  Sabbath  will  be 
punished  by  a  scarcity  of  real  men  of  God  to  give  them  comfort  and 
guidance  when  the  punishment  comes  upon  them? 

12.  Where  in  Chapter  9  does  the  prophet  with  great  vividness 
show  how  inescapable  will  be  the  judgment  of  Jehovah? 

13.  Do  you  find  any  other  places  where  with  unusual  pic¬ 
turesqueness  and  dramatic  power  the  prophet  proclaims  coming 
judgment? 

14.  When  were  Amos’  words  fulfilled?  See  2  Kings  18.  9-12. 

15.  What  modern  applications  can  you  justly  make  of  Amos’ 
words  against  oppression  and  a  paganized  worship  of  Jehovah? 


I 


HOSEA 


From  a  Copley  print.  Copyright,  1898, by  Curtis  <te  Cameron, 
Publishers,  Boston. 

HOSEA 


THE  TIMES  OF  HOSEA 


I  saw  the  ramparts  of  my  native  land, 

One  time  so  strong,  now  dropping  in  decay, 

Their  strength  destroyed  by  this  new  age’s  way 
That  has  worn  out  and  rotted  what  was  grand. 

— Masefield. 

Certain  books  arrest  us  strongly  on  the  first  reading 
and  then,  after  a  time,  cease  to  impress  us.  This  is 
often  the  case  with  the  “best  sellers.”  We  soon  throw 
them  aside  with  a  suggestion  of  nausea.  Other  books 
are  rather  dull  at  first  but  slowly  grow  upon  us  as  we 
study  them.  Some  are  even  positively  forbidding  at 
the  first  reading,  and  yet  if  we  only  persist  they  finally 
win  our  highest  admiration.  The  prophet  we  now  take 
up  belongs  to  the  latter  class.  When  students  pass 
from  the  study  of  Amos  to  the  study  of  Hosea  they 
always  express  a  disappointment  at  the  change. 
“Amos  is  clear,”  they  say,  “but  Hosea  is  a  mess.” 
And  yet,  if  they  stay  with  him,  Hosea  wins  them  not 
only  to  admiration  but  to  an  ardent  affection  as  though 
he  had  become  their  personal  friend. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  the  full  appreciation 
of  Hosea  can  come  within  the  brief  time  that  it  is  pos¬ 
sible  to  devote  to  him  in  this  little  book.  But  if  we  can 
catch  a  glimpse  of  his  winsome  personality  we  may  be 
inspired  to  further  study. 

As  in  the  case  of  Amos,  we  shall  begin  our  study  by 
considering  the  times  of  the  prophet.  First  of  all  we 
need  to  realize  that  Hosea  was  a  successor  of  Amos. 


45 


46 


Men  Unafraid 


Amos  had  made  a  diagnosis  of  the  moral  disease  from 
which  the  nation  was  suffering,  and  had  predicted  its 
results.  He  had  done  this  at  a  time  when  Israel  did 
not  outwardly  seem  to  be  in  a  serious  condition.  When 
Hosea  begins  his  ministry,  however,  all  the  symptoms 
have  become  aggravated,  and  the  case  is  alarming. 
There  is  more  than  the  hectic  flush  now;  there  is  the 
sunken  eye,  the  emaciated  form,  and  at  times  the  de¬ 
lirium  of  the  fever. 

The  facts  concerning  Israel’s  state  at  this  time  are 
derived  chiefly  from  two  sources:  the  account  in  2  Kings 
14.  23  to  17.  6,  and  the  revelation  given  in  the  words  of 
Hosea  himself.  According  to  2  Kings,  when  the  pow¬ 
erful  Jeroboam  II  died,  the  nation  which  he  had  held 
together  by  his  strong  hand  fell  into  disorder.  The  con¬ 
fusion  is  reflected  in  the  records.  There  is  a  great  gap 
in  the  chronology.  Assassin  after  assassin  gained 
power,  ruled  a  short  time,  and  was  then  put  to  death. 
It  was  a  day  of  outward  chaos  and  unspeakable  tragedy. 
Three  times  the  Assyrians  came  up,  devastated  portions 
of  the  country  and  exacted  tribute.  At  last  Shal¬ 
maneser,  king  of  Assyria,  subjugated  the  land  and 
afterward,  finding  the  king  rebellious,  laid  siege  to 
Samaria.  This  siege  was  finally  pushed  to  the  bitter 
end  by  his  successor,  Sargon,  in  722  or  721.  And  thus, 
as  both  Hosea  and  his  predecessor  Amos  had  foretold, 
the  brief  candle  of  the  northern  kingdom  flickered 
out. 

The  book  of  Kings,  however,  gives  us  but  the  surface 
facts.  When  we  come  to  the  prophet  himself  we  learn 
something  of  the  conditions  which  lay  back  of  the  po- 


Hosea 


47 


litical  anarchy,  and  which  inevitably  led  to  the  extinc¬ 
tion  of  the  national  life. 

One  of  these  causes  was  the  lying  diplomacy  of  the 
rulers.  Like  the  statesmen  before  the  World  War,  the 
rulers  were  continually  multiplying  (diplomatic)  “lies 
and  desolation.”  They  made  “a  covenant  with  As¬ 
syria,  and  oil  is  carried  into  Egypt”  (12.  i).  They  at¬ 
tempted  to  convince  both  of  these  rival  powers  that 
they  were  allies,  and  this  of  course  infuriated  Assyria. 

The  nation  had  gone  to  pieces  in  its  private  life. 
The  prophet  exclaims:  “There  is  nought  but  swearing 
and  breaking  faith,  and  Killing,  and  stealing,  and  com¬ 
mitting  adultery.  They  break  out,  and  blood  toucheth 
blood”  (4.  2).  One  bloody  deed  follows  upon  another. 
Or  to  put  it  in  modern  language,  lynchings  and  strikes 
and  riots  are  incessant. 

This  condition  was  the  more  hopeless  because  the 
priests  themselves,  instead  of  being  organized  to  save 
the  people,  were  organized  to  keep  them  in  sin.  “They 
feed  on  the  sin  of  my  people  and  set  their  heart  on  their 
iniquity”  (4.  8).  They  were  like  rich  ecclesiastics  in 
later  years  whose  revenues  depended  on  the  profits 
from  breweries  or  the  rents  from  vile  tenements. 

Everywhere  in  the  valleys  altars  had  sprung  up  for 
the  worship  of  the  local  Baals  who  were  supposed  to 
give  good  crops.  The  better  the  crops,  the  thicker  the 
altars.  “I  will  go  after  my  lovers,”  said  Israel,  “that 
give  me  my  bread  and  my  water,  my  wool  and  my 
fiax,  mine  oil  and  my  drink”  (2.  5).  Thus  the  idols  got 
the  credit  for  the  mercies  of  God.  This  feeling  that 
attention  to  the  heathen  deities  would  bring  good  for- 


48 


Men  Unafraid 


tune  was  analogous  to  the  modern  superstitions  which 
have  come  down  from  ancient  days  that  a  horse¬ 
shoe  over  the  barn  door  will  bring  good  luck  and  that 
peas  planted  in  a  certain  phase  of  the  moon  will  prosper. 
The  tendency  to  idolatry  and  superstition  which  had 
been  taken  over  from  the  ancient  Canaanitish  in¬ 
habitants  had  infected  the  very  soil  just  as  the  germs 
of  foot  rot  in  a  pasture  infect  the  sheep  that  are  after¬ 
ward  turned  into  the  lot. 

In  spite  of  the  national  weakness  and  decay  there  was 
still  a  mad  self-confidence.  “Ephraim  said,  Surely  I 
am  become  rich,  I  have  found  me  wealth:  in  all  my 
labors  they  shall  find  in  me  no  iniquity  that  were  sin” 
( 1 2.  8).  He  voted  himself  “a  jolly  good  fellow.” 
Doubtless,  as  is  plainly  hinted  in  the  prophecy,  the 
poor  confused  popular  prophets  ministered,  like  dema¬ 
gogues  to-day,  to  this  mad  delusion  of  self-conceit. 

Society  was  such  that  it  was  calculated  to  drive  a 
sane  man  to  madness.  The  sight  of  the  sensitive 
prophet  sobbing  and  well-nigh  distracted  in  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  the  nation’s  delirious  dance  of  death  will  tell  us 
better  than  any  clear-cut  and  balanced  sentences  the 
conditions  around  him. 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  According  to  2  Kings  15.  1  to  16.  20,  was  Jeroboam,  the  king 
under  whom  Hosea  began  his  ministry,  succeeded  by  kings  that  held 
the  people  in  order  and  maintained  the  strength  of  the  kingdom,  or 
was  his  strong  reign  followed  by  a  period  of  anarchy  with  frequent 
assassinations  and  insurrections?  According  to  these  chapters,  what 
finally  became  of  Israel? 

2.  Do  you  find  in  Hosea  7,  8,  10.  and  13  any  hints  of  the  transi¬ 
tory  reigns  of  the  kings,  and  of  the  general  anarchy? 


Hosf.  a 


49 


3.  Where  in  Chapter  5  do  you  find  evidence  that  the  princes  had 
gotten  so  low  that  instead  of  standing  up  for  the  rights  of  the  people, 
they  were  like  the  depraved  rascals  who  moved  the  stones  and  other 
familiar  objects  that  formed  the  boundaries  between  the  farms? 

4.  Find  evidence  in  Chapter  7  that  the  princes  of  Israel  were 
given  over  to  drunkenness. 

5.  Where  in  Chapter  5  do  we  find  indication  that  northern 
Israel  (Ephraim)  was  going  in  its  distress  to  the  Assyrian  king  for 
help?  Find  Assyria  on  the  map,  with  its  capital  Nineveh,  and  care¬ 
fully  distinguish  it  from  the  much  smaller  kingdom  of  Syria  whose 
capital  was  Damascus. 

6.  What  evidence  do  you  find  in  Chapter  7  that  Israel  looked  also 
to  Egypt,  Assyria’s  great  rival,  for  help,  and  thus  vacillated  between 
the  two  and  in  its  efforts  to  gain  the  favor  of  both  was  liable  to  excite 
their  common  resentment? 

7.  What  indication  is  there  in  Chapters  8,  9,  and  10  that  the 
prophet  himself,  while  certain  that  judgment  was  to  come  upon  the 
people,  was  hardly  sure  whether  this  punishment  would  come  in  the 
form  of  devastation  by  Egypt  or  by  Assyria? 

8.  Where  in  Chapters  4  and  10  do  you  find  evidence  that  in 
Hosea’s  day  men  could  no  longer  be  depended  on  to  keep  their  con¬ 
tracts  and  to  tell  the  truth? 

9.  Where  in  Chapters  4  and  7  is  there  evidence  that  social  vice 
was  frightfully  prevalent  among  the  people? 

10.  What  indications  of  anarchy  and  violence  do  we  find  in 
Chapters  4,  5,  and  6? 

11.  What  evidence  do  we  find  in  Chapters  4,  5,  6,  n,  and  13 
that  just  as  Hosea’s  wife  had  been  unfaithful  to  him,  so  Israel  had 
been  unfaithful  to  Jehovah  and  had  given  herself  to  those  gross 
forms  of  worship  which  the  prophet  calls  whoredom? 

12.  Where  in  Chapter  5  do  you  find  evidence  that  even  when  the 
people  worshiped  Jehovah  they  did  it  after  a  heathenish  fashion, 
supposing  that  he  would  be  won  over  by  multitudes  of  sacrifices? 

13.  Where  in  Chapter  7  does  the  prophet  say  that  when  the 
people  assembled  to  worship  Jehovah  it  was  merely  for  the  sake  of 
begging  for  good  crops? 

14.  What  are  the  indications  in  Chapters  4,  5,  and  6  that  the 
ministers  of  religion  were  largely  responsible  for  this  utter  degeneracy 
of  the  people? 


HOSEA  THE  MAN 


Our  Hosea,  the  human, 

With  his  droppings  of  warm  tears, 

And  his  touchings  of  things  common 
Till  they  rose  to  meet  the  spheres. 

— Adapted  from  Mrs.  Browning. 

The  only  direct  information  that  we  have  concerning 
the  personal  life  of  Hosea  is  the  statement  that  he  gives 
us  in  the  opening  part  of  his  prophecy:  “When  Jehovah 
spake  at  the  first  by  Hosea,  Jehovah  said  unto  Hosea, 
Go,  take  unto  thee  a  wife  of  whoredom  and  children  of 
whoredom;  for  the  land  doth  commit  great  whoredom, 
departing  from  Jehovah’  ’  (i.  a). 

The  general  interpretation  of  this  passage  to-day  is 
that  Hosea  married  a  young  woman  whom  he  idealized 
after  the  manner  of  one  of  such  a  poetic  and  refined 
temperament;  but  that,  infected  with  the  general 
tendency  of  the  times  and  perhaps  under  the  influence 
of  wine,  she  was  led  astray,  and  finally,  wandering  from 
his  home,  drifted  into  slavery.  This  awful  tragedy  in 
his  own  home  opened  his  eyes  and  heart  to  realize  how 
Jehovah  must  feel  with  the  whole  nation  wandering 
away  to  the  vile  gods  of  the  heathen.  Thus  he  was  led 
to  conclude  that  this  hard  experience  was  permitted 
to  come  to  him  in  order  that  he  might  sense  the  mind  of 
God  toward  the  people,  and  in  retrospect,  after  the 
Hebrew  fashion  which  ascribes  all  things  to  God,  he 
said  that  Jehovah  commanded  him  to  take  a  wife  of 
whoredom  and  children  of  whoredom.  This  interpre- 

5° 


Hosea 


51 


tation  brings  the  prophecy  in  line  with  the  experience 
of  many  a  reformer  who  has  been  led  to  hate  sin  by 
having  the  consequences  of  some  dreadful  social  evil 
reach  its  talons  into  his  own  home.  After  his  suffering 
he  comes  to  understand  and  to  care. 

The  rest  of  our  information  about  Hosea  must  be  in¬ 
ferred  from  the  nature  of  the  book  he  has  written.  And 
the  first  superficial  inference  is  that  he  must  have  been 
a  man  of  incoherent  mind,  for  the  book  has  so  little 
plan  that  Professor  Moulton  prints  it  merely  as  a  series 
of  detached  sentences.  But  on  repeated  and  continual 
reading  this  impression  of  incoherence  disappears,  for 
while  it  is  wholly  impossible  to  outline  the  book,  the 
one  practical  purpose  shines  out  from  every  paragraph, 
and  there  are  very  few  sermons  from  which  one  could 
go  with  as  definite  a  notion  of  the  burden  that  is  upon 
the  heart  of  the  preacher  and  of  the  thing  that  the 
preacher  desires  him  to  do.  The  book  reminds  us  of  a 
great  ship  in  a  tempest  which  seems  to  toss  aimlesslv, 
but  nevertheless  is  plowing  its  way  with  strong  power 
on  its  appointed  track 

The  disconnectedness  of  the  book  arises  from  its 
intense  emotion.  As  Davidson  says,  it  is  but  little 
more  than  “a  succession  of  sobs,”  and  one  does  not 
sob  out  his  firstlies  and  secondlies  and  thirdlies.  It  is 
like  the  diary  of  a  soldier  at  the  front  that  is  written 
between  the  explosions  of  shells.  The  whole  country, 
like  Hosea’s  home,  is  in  a  chaotic  condition,  and  the 
book  is  a  reflection  of  the  prophet’s  surroundings. 

The  most  outstanding  fact  about  Hosea  is  his  intense 
sensitiveness.  Like  a  radiophone  he  caught  the  music 


Men  Unafraid 


52 

of  the  spheres,  but  like  the  delicate  seismograph  that 
registers  an  earthquake  in  any  part  of  the  earth’s  sur¬ 
face  his  sensitive  soul  recorded  the  hidden  and  secret 
rumblings  of  divine  judgment.  This  sensitiveness 
made  him  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  gladdest  and  one 
of  the  saddest  of  men.  He  had  drunk  as  deeply  of  the 
springs  of  joy  as  of  the  cup  of  woe. 

His  gladness  is  reflected  in  the  thrilled  joy  in  nature 
which  is  manifest  throughout  the  book,  in  his  enthu¬ 
siasm  for  the  great  hero  stories  of  the  patriarchs  and  of 
the  exodus,  and  in  his  upspringing  joy  in  the  certainty 
of  the  love  of  God.  But  out  of  these  very  things  grew 
his  sadness  when  he  looked  upon  the  tragedy  of  Israel’s 
apostasy.  He  was  like  Dante,  seeing  heaven  and  hell 
at  the  same  time.  He  had  too  many  eyes.  One  mo¬ 
ment  he  would  rise  like  a  lark  to  sing  of  hope  in  the 
heavens,  and  the  next  moment  he  would  be  pulled  back 
fluttering  to  the  earth  by  the  dread  realities  of  the  sin 
of  his  people. 

This  sensitiveness  accounts  for  another  peculiarity  of 
Hosea;  his  curious  combination  of  tenderness  and 
fierceness.  His  sense  of  the  love  of  God  made  him  very 
tender,  and  his  sense  of  the  way  in  which  this  love  was 
outraged  made  him  like  a  lion  fierce  for  prey.  The 
lightning  flashed  out  of  his  tear-dimmed  eyes.  He 
flames  like  a  volcano,  and  then  appears  like  a  delicate 
and  fragrant  lily.  He  pleads  and  threatens  and  weeps 
and  soars  into  the  heavens  of  idealism.  His  prophecy 
is  a  veritable  flood,  an  avalanche  of  every  type  of  hu¬ 
man  pleading  and  appeal.  It  is  music  and  it  is  hail¬ 
stones  and  coals  of  fire,  a  great  soul  in  conflagration  of 


Hos  EA 


53 


love  and  anxiety  and  terrific  condemnation.  What  a 
miracle  he  is! 

He  is  a  pessimist  and  an  optimist.  He  sees  sin  from 
the  standpoint  of  God,  and  hence  to  our  dull  eyes  he 
seems  a  pessimist.  But  at  the  same  time  he  sees  the 
sinner  from  the  standpoint  of  God  who  loves  im¬ 
measurably  and  whose  resources  of  loving  ingenuity 
will  at  length  prevail  for  the  salvation  of  his  people. 
And  thus  he  is  a  supreme  optimist.  He  shudders  at  the 
sight  of  the  black  hock  of  vultures  that  are  coming  to 
devour  the  carcass  of  Israel,  but  he  does  not  despair, 
for  behind  the  vultures  he  sees  a  flight  of  angels  coming 
to  set  up  the  new  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth. 

In  the  prophet’s  sympathy  with  God  as  he  grieves 
over  the  sin  of  the  people  and  yet  loves  them  with  un¬ 
speakable  tenderness  there  is  a  foregleam  of  the  spirit 
of  Christ.  The  great  thing  about  Hosea  is  that  through 
the  confused  pages  of  his  book  you  catch  the  dim 
outlines  of  the  Christ  bearing  his  cross,  and  you  seem  to 
hear  the  prayer,  “Father,  forgive  them,  they  know  not 
what  they  do.” 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  There  are  three  main  interpretations  of  the  first  three  chapters 
of  Hosea:  (i)  the  interpretation  which  makes  Hosea  literally  obey  a 
terrible  command  of  Jehovah  to  marry  a  woman  whom  he  knew  to  be 
immoral;  (2)  the  interpretation  which  assumes  that  after  his  marriage 
Hosea  discovered  the  unfaithfulness  of  his  wife  and  made  his  do¬ 
mestic  tragedy  the  medium  through  which  he  entered  into  an  appre¬ 
ciation  of  Jehovah’s  feeling  toward  unfaithful  Israel;  (3)  the  inter¬ 
pretation  which  makes  the  story  an  allegory.  To  which  interpretation 
do  you  personally  incline? 

2.  What  evidence  do  you  find  in  Chapter  9  that  Hosea,  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  his  own  domestic  trouble,  was  the  victim  of  persecution? 


54 


M  en  Unafraid 


3.  Where  have  we  in  Chapter  12  evidence  that  Hosea,  like  Amos, 
thrilled  over  the  ancient  stories  of  Israel? 

4.  When  a  man  senses  the  love  of  God  for  sinners  it  is  always  an 
evidence  that  he  himself  has  a  yearning  pity  for  all  who  are  going 
astray.  In  the  light  of  this  fact,  where  do  we  find  in  Chapters  1 1 , 13, 
and  1 4  plain  evidence  that  Hosea  had  a  tender  sympathy  for  Israel 
in  her  sin  and  folly? 

5.  What  evidence  do  you  find  in  Chapters  2,  n,  and  14  that 
while  Hosea  was  agonized  by  the  sin  of  the  people  and  their  ap¬ 
proaching  doom,  he  was  a  man  in  whose  heart  a  great  hope  was  con¬ 
stantly  springing  up? 

6.  Can  you  find  any  evidence  from  the  book  that  Hosea  was  an 
out-of-doors  man  in  close  touch  with  nature? 

7.  What  passages  do  you  find  in  Hosea  that  indicate  that  he  had 
that  power  of  vivid  imagination  and  intense  emotion  which  is  char¬ 
acteristic  of  a  genius? 

8.  It  is  one  of  the  laws  of  the  human  mind  that  abundant  figures 
of  speech  illustrating  any  given  idea  do  not  come  without  prolonged 
concentration  on  that  thought.  Where  in  Chapters  7,  10,  11,  and  14 
do  you  find  that  crowding  together  of  images  illustrating  a  single 
point  that  suggests  that  Hosea  was  a  man  of  remarkable  mental  con¬ 
centration? 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  HOSEA 


Through  the  lenses  of  his  tears  Hosea  perhaps  saw  a 
little  deeper  than  did  his  predecessors  into  the  nature  of 
sin,  the  love  of  God,  and  the  way  of  salvation.  It  is  not 
that  he  differed  from  them,  but  he  went  a  little  further 
in  the  same  direction.  After  he  had  preached  his  ser¬ 
mon  to  the  people  he  burst  into  tears  and  exclaimed, 
Ah,  but  you  do  not  know  how  your  sin  hurts  God,  and 
you  do  not  understand  how  terribly  it  has  robbed  you 
of  all  that  is  great  and  precious  in  your  lives! 

The  note  that  we  hear  over  and  over  again  in  Hosea  is 
that  sin  has  robbed  the  people  of  the  power  of  moral 
appreciation.  “Whoredom  and  wine,”  says  he,  have 
taken  away  “the  understanding”  (4.  11).  They  have 
killed  the  optic  nerve  of  the  soul.  As  we  listen  to  him 
talk  we  almost  fancy  we  hear  a  modern  biologist  lec¬ 
turing  on  the  way  the  organs  of  the  body  are  withered 
up  by  disuse,  like  the  eyes  of  the  fish  in  Mammoth 
Cave. 

The  position  which  the  prophet  takes  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  sin  is  directly  contrary  to  that  of  the  un¬ 
thinking  man  who,  persisting  in  a  course  of  pleasing 
vice,  pictures  to  himself  a  day  after  the  holiday  is  ended 
when,  having  exhausted  the  pleasures  of  sin,  he  will 
repent  and  live  soberly  and  righteously  ever  afterward. 
“But,”  says  Hosea,  “their  doings  will  not  suffer  them 
to  turn  unto  their  God”  (5.  4).  When  the  nation  begins 
to  repent  then  it  realizes  that  sin  has  entered  into  the 

55 


Men  Unafraid 


J6 

texture  of  the  national  life,  and  that  it  paralyzes  their 
attempts  to  be  good.  They  are  like  a  “deceitful 
bow,”  says  he  (7.  16).  When  they  pray  they  try  to 
shoot  the  arrow  at  the  mark  of  true  religion  and  it 
goes  astray. 

The  ancient  world,  like  most  moderns,  considered 
punishment  for  sin  as  something  inflicted  from  without, 
like  the  sentence  of  a  judge  who  sends  a  man  to  jail.  If 
the  judge  were  a  little  more  good-humored  there  would 
be  no  punishment  at  all.  But  Hosea  says,  “Judgment 
springeth  up  as  hemlock  in  the  furrows  of  the  field” 
(10.  4).  It  grows  spontaneously  in  the  soil  of  the  sinful 
nation  like  noxious  weeds.  Without  their  knowing  it 
sin  ages  a  nation  and  destroys  its  youthful  spirit. 
“Gray  hairs  are  here  and  there  upon  him,  and  he 
knoweth  it  not”  (7.  9).  It  works  secretly  in  the  dark. 
It  rots  out  the  national  life  and  character.  “Therefore 
am  I  unto  Ephraim  as  a  moth,  and  to  the  house  of  Judah 
as  rottenness”  (5.  12). 

Sin  is  contagious,  and  a  man  who  is  careless  of  what 
is  going  on  among  the  people  cannot  expect  to  escape 
the  results  of  it.  “Like  people,”  says  the  prophet, 
“like  priest”  (4.  9).  The  priests  who  refuse  to  do  their 
duty  will  in  no  wise  escape  the  punishment  that  is  to 
come  upon  the  people  as  a  whole.  The  sin  of  the 
sanctuaries  spreads  through  all  the  home  life.  The 
men  enter  licentiously  into  the  orgies  connected  with 
the  idol  worship,  and  go  home  and  find  to  their  horror 
that  their  wives  and  their  daughters  have  been  guilty 
of  the  same  vice  (4.  14).  Hosea,  as  though  he  were  a 
modern  physician,  finds  that  when  social  impurity  is 


Hosea 


57 


rife  the  nation  becomes  sterile.  Whoredom  and  wine 
not  only  take  away  the  heart;  they  also  take  away  the 
population  (9.  14). 

The  results  of  sin  are  like  tho  power  of  gravity.  The 
farther  you  fall  the  faster  you  go.  “They  sow  the  wind, 
and  they  shall  reap  the  whirlwind”  (8.  7).  Sin  means 
captivity,  for  immorality  means  loss  of  national  spirit 
and  national  unity.  The  enemies  will  come  upon  them 
in  their  helplessness  and  carry  them  away.  Hosea 
realized  that  the  very  laws  of  nature  stand  grimly 
present  in  all  societies  with  a  set  of  handcuffs  ready  for 
the  free  people  that  turn  away  from  righteousness. 

To  Hosea  the  greatest  of  all  sins  was  unfaithfulness 
to  Jehovah.  He  had  seen  that  when  men  turned  away 
from  the  worship  of  Jehovah  and  bowed  down  to  the 
bull  images  and  other  personifications  of  the  ferocious 
and  brute  powers  of  nature,  their  morality  went  down 
like  a  toboggan.  The  worship  of  the  local  divinities 
that  were  supposed  to  preside  over  the  fair  valleys  of 
Israel  was  in  Hosea’s  mind  like  the  breaking  of  the  mar¬ 
riage  vows.  The  people  called  it  simple  prudence  in  the 
interest  of  good  crops.  They  described  it  as  freedom 
from  narrowness  and  bigotry.  But  Hosea  wanted  to 
make  them  see  the  seriousness  of  idolatry,  and  he 
looked  around  for  the  nastiest  name  he  could  think  of 
and  called  it  whoredom. 

Hosea’s  horror  of  sin  sprang  from  his  sense  of  the  in¬ 
finite  love  of  God.  He  looked  back  in  Jewish  history 
and  was  thrilled  with  the  great  record  of  how  Jehovah 
had  been  gracious  to  them  all  the  years.  “When  Israel 
was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him,  and  called  my  son  out  of 


58 


Men  Unafraid 


Egypt”  (n.  i).  He  contemplated  the  way  in  which 
God  through  the  long  and  tragic  journey  of  the  nation 
had  drawn  them  through  the  miry  ruts  of  their  dullness 
and  sensuality,  laboring  in  his  love  like  a  draft  horse. 
And  he  wondered  at  it.  He  heard  Jehovah  exclaim: 
“I  drew  them  with  cords  of  a  man,  with  bands  of  love; 
and  I  was  to  them  as  they  that  lift  up  the  yoke  on  their 
jaws;  and  I  laid  food  before  them”  (n.  4). 

To  Hosea  the  Jehovah  from  whom  many  of  his  an¬ 
cestors  had  shrunk  as  the  fierce  sender  of  thunderbolts 
and  wrath  was  the  Father  of  infinite  mercies.  And  yet 
his  conception  of  God  was  not  akin  to  the  modern  idea 
that  makes  God  an  indulgent  parent,  a  kind  of  jolly 
Santa  Claus  of  a  deity.  He  avoided  two  extremes,  the 
ancient  extreme  of  picturing  Jehovah  as  flaming  wrath 
and  the  modern  extreme  of  attributing  to  him  a  good- 
natured  indifference  to  sin.  God  to  him  was  love,  but 
God  was  also  a  consuming  fire. 

He  represents  a  conflict  going  on  in  the  mind  of  God 
between  his  hatred  of  sin  and  his  love  of  the  sinner. 
God  exclaims  tenderly:  “How  shall  I  give  thee  up, 
Ephraim?  how  shall  I  cast  thee  off,  Israel?  .  .  .  My 
heart  is  turned  within  me,  my  compassions  are  kindled 
together.  I  will  not  execute  the  fierceness  of  mine 
anger”  (11.  8,  9).  But  then  again,  as  he  contemplates 
their  ingratitude  and  their  pride,  Jehovah  exclaims, 
“Therefore  am  I  unto  them  as  a  lion;  as  a  leopard  will 
I  watch  by  the  way;  I  will  meet  them  as  a  bear  that  is 
bereaved  of  her  whelps”  (13.  7,  8).  This  is  not  incon¬ 
sistency.  This  is  simply  an  attempt  to  portray  that 
which  must  forever  exist  in  the  mind  of  a  loving  God, 


Hose  a 


59 


unspeakable  tenderness  and  unspeakable  indignation 
over  sin  and  ingratitude. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  one  of  the  next  advances 
in  religion  will  be  the  realization  of  the  fact  that  just  in 
proportion  as  we  believe  in  the  intensity  of  Jehovah’s 
love  for  mankind,  we  must  believe  in  the  terribleness 
of  his  wrath  against  sin.  There  is  a  most  impressive 
passage  in  Hosea  which  says  that  in  the  latter  days 
men  “shall  come  with  fear  unto  Jehovah  and  to  his 
goodness”  (3.  5).  They  will  have  such  an  intense  con¬ 
ception  of  his  goodness  that  it  will  cause  them  to  tremble. 
And  when  that  new  vision  comes  men  will  go  back 
with  renewed  interest  to  Hosea  as  the  prophet  who  in 
the  olden  time  anticipated  it  and  proclaimed  it  with 
such  quivering  emotion. 

Hosea’s  conception  of  the  way  of  salvation  sprang 
out  of  his  conception  of  God.  It  may  be  simply  stated 
in  that  verse  which  the  Saviour  honored  him  by  quot¬ 
ing:  “I  desire  goodness,  and  not  sacrifice;  and  the 
knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt-offerings”  (6.  6). 
Of  course  animal  sacrifices  were  not  necessary  to  pro¬ 
pitiate  a  God  who  with  unspeakable  tenderness  was 
yearning  over  the  nation;  but,  of  course,  single-hearted 
loyalty  to  Jehovah  and  kindly  dealing  between  man 
and  man  were  indispensable.  “Therefore  turn  thou  to 
thy  God:  keep  kindness  and  justice,  and  wait  for  thy 
God  continually”  (12.  6). 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  The  message  of  Hosea  is  divided  into  two  very  unequal  main 
divisions:  first,  the  section  that  tells  of  Hosea’s  private  life  and  how 
he  learned  the  mind  of  God  from  his  own  sorrows;  second,  Hosea’s 


6o 


Men  Unafraid 


message  to  Israel.  Find  from  a  reading  of  the  book  the  chapters 
included  in  each  of  these  two  divisions. 

2.  Hosea  taught  that  Israel’s  past  history  was  full  of  manifesta¬ 
tions  of  God’s  gracious  and  condescending  love.  Find  passages  in 
Chapters  2,  7,  11,  12,  and  13  which  illustrate  this  point. 

3.  Where  in  Chapters  2  and  13  does  the  prophet  in  his  attempt 
to  show  that  God  at  the  same  time  tenderly  yearns  over  the  people 
and  fiercely  abhors  their  sins,  seem  almost  in  the  same  breath  to  say 
that  God  loves  and  hates  them? 

4.  Hosea  conceived  that  for  Israel  to  turn  away  from  their  pure, 
kind,  and  glorious  God  to  the  worship  of  the  brutal,  sensuous,  and  im¬ 
moral  deities  of  the  heathen  was  an  act  so  vile  that  it  could  only  be 
described  by  the  repulsive  name  of  whoredom.  Where  in  Chapters 
1,  2,  4,  5,  and  9  do  you  find  passages  expressing  his  horror  and  repul¬ 
sion  at  the  nation’s  sin? 

5.  Where  in  Chapter  4  does  he  tell  us  that  as  the  result  of  the 
social  vice  and  drunkenness  that  sprang  out  of  the  irreligion  of  the 
nation  it  was  losing  its  moral  sense? 

6.  Where  in  Chapter  4  does  Hosea  show  that  as  a  result  of  their 
own  unfaithfulness  to  Jehovah  and  their  connection  with  the  licen¬ 
tious,' idolatrous  rites,  the  men  had  lost  the  right  to  condemn  their 
daughters  and  their  brides  for  their  uncleanness? 

7.  Where  in  Chapters  4  and  9  does  Hosea  show  that  as  a  result 
of  the  prevailing  social  vice  the  people  will  cease  to  multiply  and  the 
population  will  shrink? 

8.  Where  in  Chapter  10  does  the  prophet  tell  us  that  the  pun¬ 
ishment  of  the  nation  that  breaks  its  contracts  comes  so  much  out  of 
the  nature  of  things  that  it  springs  up  all  around  them  like  weeds? 

9.  Where  in  Chapters  10  and  11  does  the  prophet  say  that  the 
condition  of  Israel  is  so  bad  that  restoration  will  not  come  until  the 
country  is  devastated  and  the  people  led  into  captivity? 

10.  Where  in  Chapters  1  and  14  does  Hosea  tell  us  that  the  salva¬ 
tion  of  Israel  is  not  to  come  from  the  building  up  of  a  strong  military 
force? 

1 1.  Where  in  Chapters  5  and  14  does  he  say  that  it  cannot  come 
from  dependence  on  the  powerful  heathen  nations  by  whom  they  are 
surrounded  ? 

'12.  Where  in  Chapter  c;  does  Hosea  say  that  salvation  will  not 
come  by  a  multitude  of  animal  sacrifices? 

13.  Where  in  Chapter  12  does  Hosea  insist  that  the  essential 
demand  in  religion  is  heart  loyalty  to  God  and  goodness  to  man? 


Hose  a 


6 1 

14.  Where  in  Chapter  6  does  Hosea  combine  this  thought  that 
Jehovah  does  not  desire  sacrifices  with  the  idea  that  he  does  insist  on 
kindness  and  an  understanding  of  his  real  character?  In  what  con¬ 
nection  did  Jesus  make  use  of  these  words  of  Hosea  in  Matthew  12? 

15.  Where  in  Chapter  3  does  Hosea  suggest  that  the  very  in¬ 
tensity  of  God’s  goodness  is  that  which  in  the  latter  days  will  inspire 
fear  and  reverence  from  his  people? 

16.  Where  in  Chapters  2  and  14  does  Hosea  tell  us  that  in  the 
latter  days  Israel  will  repent  and  Jehovah  will  abundantly  bless 
them  ? 

17.  How  does  Jesus  in  Matthew  5.  23  and  25.  34-40  and  in  Luke 

18.  9-14  reaffirm  the  message  of  Hosea? 


ISAIAH 


From  a  Copley  print  Copyright,  1S9S,  by  Curtis  &  Cameron,  Publishers,  Boston. 


ISAIAH 


THE  LITERARY  PECULIARITIES  OF  THE 

BOOK  OF  ISAIAH 

The  Structure  of  the  Book 

It  is  supremely  important  for  the  student  of  Isaiah 
to  understand  something  of  the  literary  peculiarities  of 
the  book.  It  is  not  a  connected  and  prearranged  dis¬ 
cussion  like  the  average  modern  prose  work,  but  rather 
has  the  literary  character  of  a  volume  of  poems.  In¬ 
deed  the  phenomenon  is  very  similar  to  that  which  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  works  of  a  poet  like  Tennyson, 
where  there  are  bound  together  not  only  many  single 
poems,  but  also  several  little  books  of  poems  which 
were  at  first  published  separately.  We  have  evidence 
of  the  composite  structure  of  the  book  of  Isaiah  in  the 
titles  which  are  scattered  through  it  (i.  i;  2.  i;  13.  1), 
and  still  more  in  the  complete  and  coherent  character 
of  the  units  themselves,  and  their  utter  lack  of  relation 
to  that  which  precedes  and  follows  them.  If  our  hymn- 
book  were  printed  as  prose,  with  nothing  to  indicate  the 
separate  hymns,  the  result  would  be  a  little  like  what  we 
see  in  the  King  James  Version  of  our  Bible.  It  is  just 
here  that  a  paragraphed  Bible,  like  the  American 
Standard  Version,  or  a  work  like  Professor  Moulton’s 
Modern  Reader’s  Bible,  is  of  so  much  help  to  us. 

Isaiah  was  a  man  of  the  hour,  and  probably  often  in 
some  crisis  sent  out  an  oracle  to  be  circulated  among 
the  people  just  as  a  modern  newspaper  issues  an 
“extra.”  After  the  prophet’s  death  some  of  his  faithful 

65 


66 


Men  Unafraid 


disciples  collected  these  sermonic  poems  and  bound 
them  together.  The  book  soon  came  to  have  a  great 
reputation,  and  as  people  to-day  are  disposed  to  put 
unusually  impressive  poems  between  the  leaves  of  their 
Bibles,  so  in  those  days  men  doubtless  filed  with  their 
manuscript  of  Isaiah  the  inspired  writings  of  later 
prophets.  If  they  did  not  know  the  name  of  the  writer 
they  would  perhaps  call  them  the  words  of  Isaiah  just 
as  we  attribute  to  Lincoln  any  quaint  and  effective 
story  that  sounds  like  him.  Indeed,  this  book  seems  to 
have  become  a  kind  of  national  gallery  in  which  anony¬ 
mous  pictures  that  had  something  of  the  inspiration 
and  majesty  of  Isaiah  were  hung. 

Furthermore,  a  large  part  of  Isaiah’s  prophecies  were 
stern  warnings  of  coming  calamity.  These  predictions 
were  fulfilled,  and  in  their  fulfillment  succeeding 
prophets  found  a  sign  of  the  faithfulness  of  God  on 
which  they  built  great  expectations  for  the  future.  The 
bone  dust  from  the  skeletons  that  were  left  after  the 
fulfillment  of  the  prophecies  of  doom  made  good 
fertilizers  for  the  flowers  of  the  gardens  of  hope.  The 
cheering  words  found  in  immediate  connection  with 
some  of  Isaiah’s  sternest  prophecies  could  scarcely  have 
been  uttered  at  the  same  time,  for  they  would  have 
nullified  the  prophet’s  attempt  to  startle  the  people 
into  repentance.  But  written  as  footnotes  to  his  mes¬ 
sage  they  were  a  great  tribute  to  him.  His  words  were 
spirit  and  life,  and  stimulated  the  minds  of  all  suc¬ 
ceeding  prophets.  Isaiah  seems  to  have  been  like  a 
comet  which,  in  addition  to  the  central  ball  of  fire, 
leaves  behind  it  a  great  train  of  light. 


Isaiah 


67 


It  might  be  asked,  On  what  principle  do  scholars 
decide  the  date  of  a  document?  There  are  many  con¬ 
siderations,  and  the  conclusion  is  of  course  apt  to  be 
more  or  less  uncertain,  but  the  principal  test  which  can 
be  applied  by  any  one  who  has  an  English  Bible  before 
him  is  this:  The  Hebrew  prophets  always  uttered  the 
words  which  were  most  needed  at  the  time  by  the 
people  to  whom  they  spoke.  If  we  were,  for  instance, 
to  find  in  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  who  wrote  in  the 
eighth  century  B.  C.,  a  sermon  against  the  sins  of  the 
emperor  Nero,  who  reigned  eight  hundred  years  later, 
we  would  naturally  assume  that  Isaiah  did  not  write  it. 

But  someone  might  ask,  Why  could  not  God  work 
the  miracle  of  giving  Isaiah  a  sermon  which  was  ex- 
pecially  directed  to  an  emperor  who  arose  eight  cen¬ 
turies  after  the  prophet  lived?  And  the  answer  is,  Of 
course  God  could  have  worked  such  a  miracle,  but  the 
sermon  would  have  meant  nothing  to  the  contempo¬ 
raries  of  Isaiah,  and  probably  would  not  have  been 
preserved  by  them.  And  while  he  was  writing  it  down 
he  would  need  to  neglect  some  ruler  of  his  own  day  who 
very  much  needed  a  message  from  God.  We  would 
respect  no  preacher  to-day  who  would  spend  his  time 
attempting  to  write  a  sermon  supposedly  adapted  to 
the  problems  with  which  men  would  be  wrestling  eight 
hundred  years  from  now.  And  we  assume  that  the 
requirements  of  common  sense  were  the  same  in  Isaiah’s 
age  as  they  are  to-day.  Hence  the  principal  clue  to  the 
date  of  any  prophetic  oracle  is  the  situation  in  Israel 
to  which  it  is  applicable,  and  which  its  local  coloring 
seems  to  presuppose.  This  does  not  preclude  the 


68 


Men  Unafraid 


prediction  of  the  future,  for  a  prophecy  of  the  future  is 
often  the  most  helpful  and  practical  message  a  prophet 
can  give  to  his  own  day.  But  it  does  preclude  a  mes¬ 
sage  which  would  be  misleading  and  useless  if  the 
prophet  had  delivered  it  to  the  people  with  whom  he 
lived. 

But  while  the  book  of  Isaiah  is  not  arranged  in 
chronological  order,  nevertheless  some  scheme  for 
holding  the  material  in  mind  and  locating  it  is  abso¬ 
lutely  necessary  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  student. 
And  fortunately  such  an  outline  may  easily  be  con¬ 
structed.  The  following  is  a  simple  synopsis  of  the 
message  of  Isaiah  i - 3 9 : 

How  pitiful  your  degradation!  Repent  and  believe!  (A  late 
prophecy  from  the  time  of  Sennacherib’s  invasion  in  701)  Chapter  1. 

The  glory  of  your  pride  will  be  brought  low.  (Early  prophecies 
of  Isaiah)  Chapters  2  to  5. 

I  saw  the  Lord!  (740)  Chapter  6. 

Fear  not  Ephraim  and  Damascus,  but  beware  of  Assyria.  (735) 
Chapters  7  and  8. 

God  will  raise  up  Messiah  to  defend  and  bless  his  people.  Chap¬ 
ters  9  to  12. 

The  nations  of  Western  Asia  will  become  the  prey  of  the  de¬ 
stroyer.  Chapters ^pt'o  27. 

Put  no  confidence  in  Egypt;  trust  Jehovah  to  deliver  you  from  the 
Assyrians.  (Prophecies  near  the  time  of  Sennacherib’s  invasion,  705- 
701)  Chapters  28  to  39. 

The  Literary  Style  of  Isaiah 

Anyone  who  muses  on  the  Isaiah  landscape  will  be 
impressed  by  its  grandeur.  When  a  college  class  is 
asked  to  pick  out  the  one  adjective  in  the  English 
language  to  describe  the  literary  style  of  Isaiah  they  are 
apt  to  pick  out  the  word  grand,  of  one  of  its  synonyms 


Isaiah 


69 


like  majestic,  exalted,  magnificent.  One  eager  young 
student  of  Isaiah  exclaimed  to  the  writer,  “The  book 
seems  as  though  it  has  been  written  in  the  Grand 
Canyon.”  Another  said,  “It  should  be  read  in  the 
midst  of  great  mountains  and  tall  trees  with  a  vast 
expanse  of  blue  sky  above.”  Another  student  ex¬ 
claimed,  “It  seems  like  one  of  the  frescoes  of  Michel¬ 
angelo.”  And  an  enthusiastic  young  Italian  mu¬ 
sician  said,  “Isaiah  makes  me  think  of  Wagner’s  Pil¬ 
grim’s  Chorus.”  They  were  all  saying  practically  the 
same  thing,  namely,  there  is  a  certain  exalted  majesty 
in  Isaiah’s  style.  The  flood  of  his  thought  comes  with 
force  and  volume;  no  lawn-sprinkler  here,  but  a 
Niagara. 

The  writer  remembers  to  this  day  the  thrill  that 
went  through  him  as  a  young  lad  when  he  first  read 
Isaiah’s  picture  of  the  onrushing  invasion  of  the  As¬ 
syrians: 

And  he  will  lift  up  an  ensign  to  the  nations  from 
far,  and  will  hiss  for  them  from  the  end  of  the 
earth;  and,  behold,  they  shall  come  with  speed 
swiftly.  None  shall  be  weary  nor  stumble  among 
them;  none  shall  slumber  nor  sleep;  neither  shall 
the  girdle  of  their  loins  be  loosed,  nor  the  latchet 
of  their  shoes  be  broken:  whose  arrows  are  sharp, 
and  all  their  bows  bent;  their  horses’  hoofs  shall 
be  accounted  as  flint,  and  their  wheels  as  a  whirl¬ 
wind:  their  roaring  shall  be  like  a  lioness,  they 
shall  roar  like  young  lions;  yea,  they  shall  roar, 
and  lay  hold  of  the  prey,  and  carry  it  away  safe, 
and  there  shall  be  none  to  deliver  (5.  26-29). 


7o 


Men  Unafraid 


There  is,  however,  in  this  grandeur  no  suggestion  of 
grandiloquence,  no  fine  writing.  It  is  not  the  strut  of  a 
rhetorician,  but  the  natural  exaltation  of  a  full  soul 
overawed  by  a  sense  of  the  divine  majesty  and  con¬ 
scious  of  eternal  issues  at  stake.  Isaiah’s  corruscations 
are  never  mere  fireworks;  they  are  always  real  vol¬ 
canoes.  When  we  say  this,  however,  we  must  at  once 
guard  against  a  false  impression,  because  a  volcano  is 
something  unrestrained  and  violent.  But  there  is  al¬ 
ways  a  kind  of  epic  restraint  in  Isaiah.  He  never  goes 
to  pieces  from  the  intensity  of  his  emotions. 

Like  all  great  poets,  Isaiah  has  an  eye  for  detail. 
This  is  almost  humorously  manifest  in  the  way  in 
which  he  scornfully  describes  the  finery  of  the  fashion¬ 
able  ladies  of  his  day  (3.  16-24).  He  has  such  a  minute 
knowledge  of  the  geography  and  scenery  of  the  sur¬ 
rounding  countries  that  one  almost  feels  that  he  had 
made  journeys  to  them  in  order  to  get  material  for  his 
prophecies.  He  has  a  creative  imagination,  and  hence 
his  words  are  full  of  color  and  vividness. 

The  benefit  of  constant  familiarity  with  such  im¬ 
pressive  literature  cannot  be  overestimated.  Ruskin, 
whose  wonderful  prose  style  is  the  despair  of  imitators, 
tells  us  that  he  owes  much  to  the  fact  that  as  a  lad  he 
was  encouraged  to  commit  long  passages  from  Isaiah. 


ISAIAH’S  DIAGNOSIS  OF  THE  CONDITIONS 
IN  JUDAH  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF 
HIS  MINISTRY 

Chapters  2-5 

Isaiah  was  a  citizen  of  Jerusalem.  We  know  nothing 
of  his  family,  but  there  are  indications  that  he  was  an 
aristocrat,  and  it  is  thought  that  he  was  of  royal  birth. 
His  prophetic  ministry  was  to  Judah,  his  own  country, 
and  he  began  his  work  about  740  B.C.,  somewhere  near 
the  middle  of  Hosea’s  ministry  in  Israel. 

The  Internal  Conditions 

The  conditions  in  Judah  at  this  time  seemed,  on  the 
surface,  much  more  hopeful  than  those  in  northern 
Israel  where  Hosea  was  weeping  over  a  nation  that  was 
morally  and  politically  in  decay.  That  Judah  had  not 
gone  to  pieces  as  Israel  had  done  was  in  a  measure  due 
to  the  exalted  character  of  her  king,  Uzziah.  After  his 
death  Jotham,  his  son,  reigned  only  a  short  time,  and 
was  succeeded,  about  736,  by  his  son,  the  weak  and 
dissolute  Ahaz.  And  then,  with  his  penetrating  vision, 
Isaiah  could  see  ominous  signs  of  the  doom  that  was 
coming  upon  his  loved  Jerusalem. 

His  analysis  of  existing  conditions  was  as  daring  as 
it  was  keen.  He  bitterly  denounced  the  luxury  of  the 
nobles,  especially  because  it  had  been  gained  at  the 
expense  of  the  poor.  It  meant  greed  and  injustice  and 
oppression.  He  saw  nothing  but  woe  for  a  country 

7i 


72 


Men  Unafraid 


where  the  small  landholders  were  crowded  out  by  them 
that  “join  house  to  house,  that  lay  field  to  field”  (5.  8). 
Jehovah  himself  entered  into  judgment  “with  the  elders 
of  his  people,  and  the  princes  thereof,”  saying,  “It  is  ye 
that  have  eaten  up  the  vineyard;  the  spoil  of  the  poor  is 
in  your  houses;  what  mean  ye  that  ye  crush  my  people, 
and  grind  the  face  of  the  poor”  (3.  14,  15)? 

With  this  extreme  concentration  of  wealth  and  this 
oppression  of  the  poor  there  came  the  inevitable  train 
of  vices.  It  goes  without  the  saying  that  in  connection 
with  greed  there  would  be  graft  and  injustice.  They 
rose  up  early  in  the  morning  to  follow  strong  drink; 
they  tarried  late  in  the  night  till  wine  inflamed  them. 
They  harnessed  themselves  to  evil  as  with  wagon  ropes. 
They  sinned  with  all  their  might.  They  lost  all  sense 
of  moral  distinctions;  they  called  evil  good,  and  good 
evil  (5.  11,  18,  20).  They  played  fast  and  loose  with  the 
truth  like  the  modern  predatory  interests  that  fill  the 
newspapers  with  lying  propaganda.  And  for  all  this 
Jehovah’s  “anger  is  not  turned  away;  but  his  hand  is 
stretched  out  still”  (5.  25). 

The  spirit  of  selfish  disregard  of  others  revealed  itself 
in  a  most  aggravated  form  in  the  snobbish  luxury  of  the 
fashionable  women.  Like  Amos,  Isaiah  forcibly  and 
pitilessly  portrays  their  self-indulgence  and  its  sure 
punishment. 

Because  the  daughters  of  Zion  are  haughty,  and 
walk  with  outstretched  necks  and  wanton  eyes, 
walking  and  mincing  as  they  go,  and  making  a 
tinkling  with  their  feet;  therefore  the  Lord  will 
smite  with  a  scab  the  crown  of  the  head  of  the 


Isaiah 


73 


daughters  of  Zion.  ...  In  that  day  the  Lord  will 
take  away  the  beauty  of  their  anklets,  and  the 
cauls,  and  the  crescents;  the  pendants,  and  the 
bracelets,  and  the  mufflers;  the  headtires,  and  the 
ankle  chains,  and  the  sashes,  and  the  perfume 
boxes,  and  the  amulets  (3.  16-20). 

From  Isaiah’s  point  of  view  the  religious  conditions 
were  even  more  lamentable  than  the  social  sins  which 
sprang  from  them.  In  their  blindness  to  the  glory  of 
God  men  worshiped  “the  work  of  their  own  hands,  that 
which  their  own  fingers  had  made”  (2.  8).  Even  those 
who  were  not  idolaters  thought  Jehovah  worship  pri¬ 
marily  a  matter  of  ceremonialism.  Men  were  so  self- 
confident  that  they  did  not  feel  their  need  of  Jehovah. 
Isaiah  was  distressed  by  those  who  were  “wise  in  their 
own  eyes,  and  prudent  in  their  own  sight”  (5.  21);  and 
he  predicted  the  coming  of  a  day  when  all  the  lofty 
things  of  earth  would  be  laid  in  the  dust  before  the 
majesty  of  Jehovah. 

For  there  shall  be  a  day  of  Jehovah  of  hosts 
upon  all  that  is  proud  and  haughty,  and  upon  all 
that  is  lifted  up;  and  it  shall  be  brought  low;  and 
upon  all  the  oaks  of  Bashan,  and  upon  all  the  high 
mountains,  and  upon  all  the  hills  that  are  lifted 
up,  and  upon  every  lofty  tower,  and  upon  everv 
fortified  wall,  and  upon  all  the  ships  of  Tarshish, 
and  upon  all  pleasant  imagery.  And  the  loftiness 
of  man  shall  be  bowed  down,  and  the  haughtiness 
of  men  shall  be  brought  low;  and  Jehovah  alone 
shall  be  exalted  in  that  day  (2.  12-17). 


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Men  Unafraid 


Indeed,  here  we  have  the  basic  difficulty  of  the 
people’s  life  as  our  prophet  analyzed  it.  At  the  root 
of  every  sin  that  he  condemned  was  insensibility  to  the 
Divine  majesty.  Men  must  first  have  seen  the  holiness 
of  the  King  before  they  are  aware  of  their  sins. 

The  tragedy  of  Israel’s  apostasy  is  expressed  in  the 
beautiful  parable  of  the  vineyard. 

My  well  beloved  had  a  vineyard  in  a  very  fruit¬ 
ful  hill;  and  he  digged  it,  and  gathered  out  the 
stones  thereof,  and  planted  it  with  the  choicest 
vine,  and  built  a  tower  in  the  midst  of  it,  jmd  also 
hewed  out  a  winepress  therein.  .  .  .  What  could 
have  been  done  more  to  my  vineyard,  that  I  have 
not  done  in  it?  wherefore,  when  I  looked  that  it 
should  bring  forth  grapes,  brought  it  forth  wild 
grapes  (5.  1,  2,  4). 

Thus  we  see  that,  like  Amos  and  Hosea,  Isaiah  was 
thrilled  with  the  sense  of  the  extraordinary  privileges 
and  honors  that  God  had  bestowed  upon  his  people. 
And  out  of  the  gracious  past  he  heard  the  same  message 
that  they  had  heard,  that  privilege  brings  with  it  not 
political  security  as  the  people  seemed  to  think,  but  re¬ 
sponsibility.  And  so  their  punishment  is  to  be  the 
withdrawal  of  the  grace  which  they  had  scouted. 

And  now  I  will  tell  you  what  I  will  do  to  my 
vineyard;  I  will  take  away  the  hedge  thereof,  and 
it  shall  be  eaten  up;  I  will  break  down  the  wall 
thereof,  and  it  shall  be  trodden  down:  and  I  will 
lay  it  waste;  it  shall  not  be  pruned  nor  hoed;  but 


Isaiah 


75 


there  shall  come  up  briers  and  thorns:  I  will  also 
command  the  clouds  that  they  rain  no  rain  upon 
it  (5.  5,  6). 

The  cross  in  the  heart  of  Isaiah  was  the  contrast 
between  these  real  conditions  and  that  great  national 
ideal  which  he  gives  us  in  one  of  his  opening  prophecies. 
He  shows  us  “the  mountain  of  Jehovah’s  house  estab¬ 
lished  on  the  top  of  the  mountains”  with  all  nations 
flowing  unto  it,  and,  after  hearing  the  revelation  of  Je¬ 
hovah,  going  home  to  “beat  their  swords  into  plow¬ 
shares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks”  (2.  2-4). 
And  now  what  were  the  real  conditions?  The  people 
were  “filled  with  customs  from  the  east”;  they  were 
“soothsayers  like  the  Philistines”  (2.  6).  That  is  to 
say,  instead  of  exporting  truth,  they  were  actually  im¬ 
porting  superstition.  Commercialism  and  militarism 
had  begun  to  eat  like  a  moth  into  the  nation’s  life.  As  a 
means  of  preparing  for  war  “their  land  was  full  of 
horses”;  neither  was  there  “any  end  of  their  chariots” 
(2.  7).  Instead  of  being  a  Geneva  tribunal  for  settling 
the  world’s  disputes  they  were  increasingly  becoming  a 
militaristic  and  warlike  people.  In  domestic  affairs 
they  had  chosen  material  gain  rather  than  the  exalta¬ 
tion  of  Jehovah.  In  international  relationships  they 
had  preferred  to  seek  safety  in  military  preparedness 
and  defensive  alliances  rather  than  in  that  peaceful 
spirit  that  would  attract  the  whole  world  to  them  as 
friends.  All  of  this  unfaithfulness  to  their  high  privi¬ 
leges  pointed  in  the  very  nature  of  things  to  national 
calamity. 


76 


Men  Unafraid 


The  International  Outlook 

Isaiah’s  feeling  that  the  sin  and  ingratitude  of  Judah 
would  inevitably  bring  upon  them  the  judgment  of  God 
was  re-enforced  by  the  dark  cloud  on  the  international 
horizon.  This  cloud  was  the  rising  power  of  Assyria. 
In  745  the  great  Tiglath-pileser  came  to  the  Assyrian 
throne.  He  was  the  Napoleon  of  those  days,  and  Judah 
had  no  Wellington  to  meet  him.  Every  caravan  that 
came  to  Jerusalem  brought  rumors  of  his  ambitious 
plans.  He  had  a  grim  habit  of  either  destroying  an 
entire  people  when  he  conquered  them,  or  of  carrying 
them  off  as  captives  to  some  other  portion  of  his  em¬ 
pire.  The  whole  world  trembled  with  the  dread  of  his 
possible  approach.  Men  in  general,  however,  while 
they  shuddered  before  the  Assyrian  spectre,  did  not 
realize  that  this  nation  was  destined  to  overrun  western 
Asia.  But  men  of  discernment  and  spiritual  intuition, 
like  Isaiah,  saw  that  its  power  was  irresistible.  It  was  as 
though  a  prophet  should  have  arisen  in  the  prosperity 
just  preceding  the  World  War  and  predicted  that 
France  should  be  desolate  and  the  flower  of  England’s 
youth  should  be  laid  in  the  dust  before  the  German 
spirit  of  conquest. 

Isaiah  realized,  as  had  Amos  before  him,  that  with 
all  their  proud  militaristic  self-confidence,  the  Jewish 
defense  would  be  as  an  empty  shell  before  the  ferocious 
impact  of  this  vigorous  people.  With  northern  Israel 
steeped  in  vice  and  heathenism  and  destined  to  almost 
immediate  extinction,  the  little  kingdom  of  Judah 
seemed  to  be  the  sole  hope  of  keeping  alive  in  the  world 
the  great  ideals  of  the  religion  of  Jehovah.  And  this 


Isaiah 


77 


very  same  Judah,  honeycombed  with  heathenism  and 
led  by  apostate  rulers,  was  apparently  about  to  be 
crushed  under  the  heel  of  a  pagan  conqueror.  The  out¬ 
look  was  indeed  dark,  and  being  a  prophet  was  serious 
business.  Surely  Isaiah  needed  to  be  sustained  by 
some  great  vision  of  God,  and  such  a  vision  was  vouch¬ 
safed  to  him. 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  According  to  Chapter  i,  in  whose  reign  did  Isaiah  begin  his 
ministry? 

2.  What  indication  do  you  find  in  Isaiah  2  and  3  that  wealth 
abounded  in  Israel  at  the  time  these  opening  prophecies  were  ut¬ 
tered  ? 

3.  What  warnings  and  predictions  do  you  find  in  Chapters  2,  3, 
and  5  that  make  it  evident  that  the  prophet  was  greatly  troubled 
by  the  arrogance  and  pride  of  the  people? 

4.  It  has  been  said  that  Amos  regarded  inhumanity  to  be  the 
great  sin  of  Israel,  and  that  Hosea  deemed  it  ingratitude,  but  that  to 
Isaiah  the  great  sin  of  his  people  was  insensibility  to  the  Divine  maj¬ 
esty.  Do  you  find  any  evidence  in  Isaiah  2  that  he  ascribed  the  pride 
of  the  people  to  their  blindness  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  looked  for¬ 
ward  to  the  day  when  they  would  have  a  terrified  awakening  to  his 
majesty? 

5.  The  Hebrew  seers  had  been  dreaming  of  Jerusalem  as  the 
educational  and  religious  center  of  the  world  (2.  1-4).  Where,  how¬ 
ever,  in  Chapter  2  does  Isaiah  tell  us  that  instead  of  living  up  to  this 
ideal  they  were  actually  importing  heathen  fortune  tellers  to  guide 
them  in  their  perplexities? 

6.  In  a  series  of  woes  in  5.  8-23  Isaiah  gives  a  condensed  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  moral  and  social  conditions  in  Israel.  The  sins  he  de¬ 
scribes  are  of  a  type  that  almost  inevitably  appear  together,  one 
leading  to  another. 

(a)  Where  in  these  woes  do  you  find  evidence  of  the  way  in 

which  the  rich  by  grasping  and  selfish  methods  were  getting  pos¬ 
session  of  the  lands  of  the  common  people? 

(b)  Where  h  ave  we  proof  that  the  rich  were  given  over  to 

drink  and  idleness? 


78 


Men  Unafraid 


(c)  Where  does  the  prophet  suggest  that  instead  of  yielding 
to  temptation  under  special  pressure  there  were  classes  of  men  in 
the  community  who  turned  the  whole  force  of  their  wills  to  sin? 

(d)  In  what  words  does  the  prophet  point  to  the  prevalence 
of  graft  and  bribery,  and  to  the  disposition  to  whitewash  in¬ 
iquity? 

(e)  Do  you  see  how  the  bad  conditions  described  in  the  woes 
in  5.  8-23  are  natural  results  the  one  of  the  other? 

7.  Where  in  Chapters  2-4  do  you  find  evidences  of  the  same 
ominous  social  symptom  that  appears  to-day  in  the  so-called  “flap¬ 
per”?  What  conditions  mentioned  in  Chapters  2-5  naturally  lead  to 
the  development  of  this  unfortunate  type?  What,  according  to 
Isaiah,  is  to  be  the  outcome  of  the  society  that  produces  such  im¬ 
modest  and  extravagant  women? 

8.  Where  in  Chapter  5  does  the  prophet  say  that  the  moral  con¬ 
ditions  of  the  country  render  it  like  a  dry  stubble  field  ready  to  burn 
with  the  fire  of  judgment  at  any  time? 

9.  The  monuments  tell  us  that  Tiglath-pileser  of  Assyria  was  at 
this  time  menacing  Western  Asia.  See  if  you  can  find  any  evidence 
in  Chapter  5  that  Isaiah  realized  the  danger  of  an  invasion  and  was 
seeking  to  make  the  people  realize  it. 

10.  What  analogies  to  the  conditions  described  by  Isaiah  do  we 
find  present  in  our  own  social  life?  Are  we  to  look  for  the  same  out¬ 
come  that  Isaiah  predicted? 


ISAIAH’S  INAUGURAL  VISION 

Chapter  6 

A  student  of  the  life  of  Isaiah  is  constantly  moved  to 
ask  the  question,  How  could  he  be  so  brave  and  pa¬ 
tient?  The  world  has  had  many  great  men  who  flamed 
up  for  a  brief  time  like  a  bonfire  and  then  died  down. 
Isaiah’s  great  fire  of  optimism  and  courege  burned  for 
forty  years  in  spite  of  rejection  and  discouragement. 
He  was  a  bush  that  burned  with  fire  and  was  not  con¬ 
sumed,  and,  like  Moses,  we  turn  aside  to  see  this  great 
sight,  and  to  ask,  Why? 

The  inaugural  vision  is  one  of  the  answers  to  this  in¬ 
quiry  concerning  the  source  of  Isaiah’s  strength.  It  is 
not  to  be  regarded  as  simply  one  of  many  great  experi¬ 
ences  of  his  life,  but  rather,  like  the  vision  that  came  to 
Paul  on  the  Damascus  road,  it  is  the  experience  that 
explains  all  the  rest  of  his  career. 

The  call  of  Isaiah,  like  that  of  Paul,  was  more  vivid 
and  overpowering  than  that  of  ordinary  men  because 
the  tasks  that  awaited  him  were  harder  and  the  dis¬ 
couragements  more  deadening.  The  great  visions  of 
God  are  not  for  tourists  in  the  realm  of  religion,  nor  for 
pleasure  seekers  with  cameras  and  field  glasses.  They 
are  for  those  who  face  stern  situations  and  who  are 
willing  to  bear  burdens. 

The  vision  began  with  an  overwhelming  sense  of  God. 
God  suddenly  became  real  to  him.  As  over  against  the 
great  Assyrian  king  who  seemed  to  be  rapidly  gaining 

79 


8o 


Men  Unafraid 


control  of  the  world,  he  saw  a  vision  of  Jehovah  cease¬ 
lessly  and  powerfully  working  to  establish  righteous¬ 
ness  in  the  earth.  His  mind  had  been  dwelling  upon 
kings  before  the  vision  came  to  him.  The  great  king  of 
his  own  country  had  died.  He  had  been  wondering 
who  would  protect  his  people  from  the  king  across  the 
Euphrates.  And  now  he  exclaims  in  wonder,  “Mine 
eyes  have  seen  the  King,  Jehovah  of  hosts.” 

But  this  vision  brought  not  joy,  but  terror.  It  made 
him  conscious  of  his  own  sins  and  of  the  sins  of  the 
people.  This  is  a  universal  accompaniment  of  all  real 
visions  of  God.  Indeed,  the  humbling  effect  of  the  vi¬ 
sion  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  we  know  that  it  was  no 
delusion,  for  deceiving  visions  are  apt  to  impress  a  man 
with  his  own  greatness. 

The  particular  sin  of  which  Isaiah  was  convicted 
was  uncleanness  of  lips.  This  does  not  necessarily 
imply  that  he  was  a  man  of  unclean  or  profane  speech. 
He  was  doubtless  one  of  the  cleanest  men  of  his  gen¬ 
eration.  But  it  does  imply  that  he  was  a  man  whose 
speech  did  not  always  come  with  prophetic  inspiration. 
His  words  were  not  uniformly  brave,  timely  and  filled 
with  a  due  sense  of  the  glory  of  God.  And  as  for  the 
speech  of  the  people  whose  uncleanness  of  lips  he  also 
bewails,  we  may  easily  believe  that  it  waded  through 
the  deep  mire. 

The  experience  which  assured  the  prophet  that  his 
own  sins  were  forgiven  took  on  a  peculiar  form  adapted 
to  his  peculiar  sin.  One  of  the  seraphim  flew,  “having 
a  live  coal  in  his  hand,  which  he  had  taken  with  the 
tongs  from  off  the  altar;  and  he  touched  my  mouth 


Isaiah 


81 


with  it,  and  said,  Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy  lips;  and 
thine  iniquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy  sin  forgiven.”  The 
way  in  which  this  assurance  came  was,  of  course,  due 
to  the  circumstances.  Isaiah  had  been  in  the  temple 
and,  perhaps,  had  been  looking  at  the  carved  images  of 
the  seraphim,  and  they  became  glorified  in  his  imagina¬ 
tion.  The  element  of  the  vision  that  was  universal,  and 
is  found  in  all  normal  religious  experience,  was  its  direct 
personal  assurance  of  the  cleansing  grace  of  God. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Isaiah  received  no  spe¬ 
cific  and  compulsive  call  to  his  special  task.  After  his 
assurance  of  forgiveness  he  hears  the  general  call  that 
God  was  broadcasting  through  the  world,  and  he  offers 
himself  for  the  work.  The  voice  said,  “Whom  shall  I 
send,  and  who  will  go  for  us?”  It  was  the  same  voice 
that  had  been  calling  him  throughout  his  life,  but  now 
his  soul  was  attuned  to  take  the  message.  God  never 
drafts  men  into  his' service.  They  must  always  volun¬ 
teer.  And  Isaiah’s  response  was  glad  and  eager,  “Here 
am  I;  send  me.”  He  was  like  a  sick  man  suddenly 
recovered.  Tasks  which  before  had  excited  repulsion, 
or  had  been  unnoticed,  are  now  looked  forward  to  with 
eagerness. 

The  command  which  God  then  gave  to  Isaiah  has 
caused  much  discussion  among  the  theologians.  Je¬ 
hovah  said  to  Isaiah: 

Go,  and  tell  this  people,  Hear  ye  indeed,  but 
understand  not:  and  see  ye  indeed,  but  perceive 
not.  Make  the  heart  of  this  people  fat,  and  make 
their  ears  heavy,  and  shut  their  eyes;  lest  they  see 


82 


Men  Unafraid 


with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  un¬ 
derstand  with  their  heart,  and  turn  again,  and  be 
healed  (6.  9,  10). 

This  passage,  as  in  the  case  of  all  other  Scripture,  must 
be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  God  is  love. 
Literally  understood,  the  command  is  wicked.  It  is  a 
devil’s  commission,  and  not  the  commission  of  a 
prophet.  But  we  must  remember  that  Isaiah  had  just 
seen  the  Lord  high  and  lifted  up,  and  the  whole  earth 
full  of  his  glory,  and  his  soul  was  so  filled  with  light 
that  he  was  not  in  danger  of  interpreting  this  dark 
enigma  in  the  wrong  way. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  the  command  to  close  the 
eyes  of  the  people?  Isaiah  was  a  young  idealist,  and 
would  go  out  with  great  hopefulness  expecting  that 
men  would  respond  to  his  glowing  words,  and  doubt¬ 
less  in  many  instances  they  did.  But  as  far  as  the 
nation  as  a  whole  was  concerned,  this  was  not  to  be  the 
case.  The  prophet  would  be  called  upon  to  pass 
through  the  bitter  experience  of  finding  the  people  of 
Jerusalem  at  first,  in  a  measure,  moved  by  his  appeals, 
and  brought  under  conviction  for  their  sins;  but  after 
a  time  he  would  find  them,  as  the  result  of  shaking  oft 
these  first  impressions,  less  and  less  sensitive  to  his 
burning  words  until  at  last  they  grew  indifferent,  if 
not  contemptuous.  And  so  his  appeals  might  be  said 
to  harden  the  national  heart. 

To  save  him  from  being  soured  and  disheartened, 
this  premonition  of  apparent  failure  was  given  him  at 
the  beginning  of  his  ministry.  It  was  a  kind  of  vaccina¬ 
tion  against  discouragement.  And  so  when  the  dark 


Isaiah 


83 


times  came,  instead  of  destroying  his  faith,  the  fulfill¬ 
ment  of  his  premonition  strengthened  his  confidence  in 
the  divine  source  of  his  vision.  In  the  words  of  Jesus, 
his  afflictions  “turned  to  him  for  a  testimony.” 

Isaiah,  full  of  youthful  hope,  could  not  believe  that 
the  time  of  apparent  failure  was  to  be  more  than  a 
passing  phase,  and  he  was  right.  There  was  indeed 
morning  beyond  the  dark  horizon,  but  that  morning 
was  much  farther  away  than  he  supposed.  And  so  in 
answer  to  his  question,  How  long?  he  hears  the  words, 
“Until  cities  be  waste  without  inhabitant,  and  houses 
without  man,  and  the  land  become  utterly  waste,  and 
Jehovah  have  removed  men  far  away,  and  the  forsaken 
places  be  many  in  the  midst  of  the  land.”  The  land 
must  be  devastated  before  God  could  have  his  way  with 
the  people. 

This  initial  period  of  failure  in  which  all  one’s  efforts 
are  frustrated  and  baffled  seems  to  be  the  first  stage  in 
the  career  of  nearly  every  great  reformer  and  prophet, 
both  ancient  and  modern.  Especially  are  these  re¬ 
verses  apparently  necessary  for  careers  of  century-long 
influence.  Tragedy  seems  to  be  the  essential  back¬ 
ground  for  the  promulgation  of  a  world-moving  mes¬ 
sage.  The  supreme  illustration  of  the  effectiveness  of 
this  experience  of  rejection  as  a  throne  from  which  to 
rule  over  the  hearts  of  men  is  found  in  the  cross  of  Jesus. 

The  proof  of  the  divine  origin  of  Isaiah’s  vision  is 
found  in  the  results.  Into  Isaiah’s  words  “there  crept  a 
strange  new  fire,”  and  this  fire  burned  with  undimmed 
brightness  as  the  night  settled  down  upon  his  people. 
Nothing  is  more  real,  no  fact  is  more  solid  than  a  sane 


84 


Men  Unafraid 


and  heroic  life.  It  requires  something  more  than  an 
hallucination  to  account  for  the  serenity,  poise  and 
wisdom  with  which  Isaiah  faced  the  thick  coming  dis¬ 
couragements.  Every  year  of  his  long  career  made  it 
more  difficult  to  explain  his  call  in  any  other  way  than 
that  in  which  he  himself  explained  it:  he  had  felt  the 
very  touch  of  God. 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

(Answers  to  questions  where  no  reference  is  given  can  be  found  in  the 

preceding  discussion.) 

1.  A  great  religious  experience  to  be  complete  must  consist  of 
(i)  A  vision  of  God;  (2)  A  sense  of  sin;  (3)  An  assurance  of  forgive¬ 
ness;  (4)  A  call  to  duty.  Write  the  above  divisions  on  the  margin  of 
your  Bible,  opposite  the  appropriate  verses  in  Isaiah  6. 

2.  What  foreign  menace  and  what  national  bereavement  com¬ 
bined  to  render  an  encouraging  vision  of  the  power  of  God  needful 
to  Isaiah? 

3.  In  those  days  a  god  was  supposed  to  be  more  or  less  limited 
to  the  country  where  he  was  worshiped.  Where  in  the  vision  is  a  very 
different  conception  of  the  sphere  of  Jehovah’s  activity  revealed  to 
Isaiah  ? 

4.  “Woe  is  me;  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips.”  Does  this  neces¬ 
sarily  mean  that  Isaiah  had  been  profane  or  obscene  in  his  speech? 
What  beside  this  might  it  have  meant?  Compare  Matthew  12.  36; 
Colossians  4.  6. 

5.  What  was  it  that  had  made  Isaiah  so  suddenly  conscious 
of  his  uncleanness  of  lips? 

6.  When  overcome  with  a  sense  of  sin,  what  would  the  ordinary 
Israelite  of  the  prophet’s  day  have  felt  that  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  offer  to  secure  forgiveness?  Contrast  with  this  common  error  the 
story  of  Isaiah’s  forgiveness.  Compare  also  Psalm  51.  16,  17.  See 
also,  for  the  New  Testament  development  of  this  idea,  Titus  3.  4-6. 

7.  “Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go  for  us?”  Was  this  a 
new  call,  or  had  Isaiah’s  ears  simply  sharpened  to  hear  it?  What  had 
quickened  his  hearing  and  made  him  eager  to  obey? 

8.  The  warning  that  the  people  would  reject  Isaiah’s  message 


Isaiah 


85 


was  fulfilled.  How,  for  instance,  in  Isaiah  8.  16-18  does  the  prophet 
tell  us  that  he  was  forced  by  the  rejection  of  his  message  to  center  his 
teaching  work  upon  the  little  inner  band  of  his  disciples  and  wait  for  a 
better  day?  Where  in  Isaiah  2S.  9-13  do  the  people  complain  of  his 
repeated  warnings  by  asking  him  contemptuously  if  he  takes  them 
for  a  kindergarten? 

9.  What  indication  do  you  find  in  Matthew  13  that  Jesus,  like 
Isaiah,  found  in  the  course  of  his  ministry  that  men  were  becoming 
hardened  to  his  teaching?  According  to  Matthew  13,  what  device 
did  Jesus  use  to  hide  his  teaching  from  the  mockery  of  the  unbeliev¬ 
ing  and  yet  at  the  same  time  suggest  it  to  the  faithful? 

10.  When  Jesus  sent  forth  the  twelve  apostles,  in  order  that  they 
might  not  be  surprised  and  wilted  down  by  the  troubles  that  awaited 
them,  what  similar  warnings  of  coming  rejection  and  persecution  did 
he  give?  See  Matthew  10  and  John  16. 

11.  Where  in  Isaiah’s  vision,  after  the  grim  prophecy  of  coming 
discouragement,  is  there  a  note  of  hope? 

'12.  What  elements  of  this  vision  are  present  in  all  normal  re¬ 
ligious  experiences,  and  what  elements  were  local  and  are  not  apt 
to  occur  again  in  that  form? 


THE  INVASION  OF  JUDAH  FROM  NORTH¬ 
ERN  ISRAEL  AND  DAMASCUS 

Chapters  7  and  8 

Isaiah  was  soon  to  need  all  the  insight  and  all  the 
courage  that  came  from  his  great  vision. 

Pekah,  the  king  of  Israel,  and  Rezin,  the  king  of 
Damascus,  conspired  against  Ahaz  and  in  7 35  came 
down  to  besiege  Jerusalem.  It  is  generally  thought 
that  their  object  was  to  force  Judah  into  am  alliance 
with  themselves  against  the  encroachments  of  the  great 
monarch  on  the  Euphrates,  Tiglath-pileser,  king  of 
Assyria.  Ahaz  and  his  people  were  in  terror.  “His 
heart  trembled,  and  the  heart  of  his  people,  as  the  trees 
of  the  forest  tremble  with  the  wind”  (7.  2).  One  man, 
however,  was  not  afraid,  and  it  was  the  man  who  was 
most  aware  of  the  weakness  of  Judah.  His  sense  of  God 
was  so  overwhelming  that  he  could  not  be  moved  by 
panic. 

Ahaz  made  a  brave  appearance  of  inspecting  the  de¬ 
fenses  as  though  he  meant  to  hold  out,  but  in  his  own 
mind  he  had  already  determined  to  put  himself  under 
the  protection  of  the  king  of  Assyria.  Isaiah  was  sent 
to  him  with  an  admonition  which  was,  in  varying  form, 
to  be  the  main  message  of  his  whole  ministry.  “Take 
heed,  and  be  quiet,”  he  says;  “fear  not,  neither  let  thy 
heart  be  faint”  (7.  4).  These  two  kings  are  but  the 
smoking  stumps  of  torches,  or,  as  we  would  say,  they 
are  nearly  burned-up  matches.  Moreover,  it  is  not  only 

86 


Isaiah 


87 


safe  to  trust  God  to  deliver  you  from  these  enemies,  but 
dependence  on  any  other  help  will  be  vain.  “If  ye  will 
not  believe,  surely  ye  shall  not  be  established”  (7.  9). 
In  the  mind  of  the  prophet  faith  was  the  one  way  of 
access  to  the  living  fountain  of  courage  and  strength. 

The  policy  favored  by  Ahaz  and  the  people  was  to 
send  swift  messengers  around  these  two  attacking  forces 
and  make  an  alliance  with  the  great  Assyrian  power  in 
their  rear,  so  that  he  would  attack  their  enemies  from 
behind  and  draw  them  away  from  Jerusalem.  This 
seemed  to  be  the  only  practical  course,  and  the  king  was 
vexed  that  this  dreamer  should  come  with  his  intrusive 
babble  to  mingle  with  stern  affairs  of  state.  He  was  in 
no  mood  for  “Sunday-school  politics.” 

Isaiah,  seeing  the  incredulous  and  impatient  look  on 
the  face  of  the  king,  and  hoping  to  strengthen  his  faith, 
said,  “Ask  thee  a  sign  of  Jehovah  thy  God;  ask  it  either 
in  the  depth,  or  in  the  height  above”  (7.  11).  But 
Ahaz,  with  mock  piety  that  did  not  conceal  his  real 
contempt  for  the  advice  of  the  prophet,  answered,  “I 
will  not  ask,  neither  will  I  tempt  Jehovah”  (7.  12). 
The  fact,  of  course,  was  that  he  was  determined  not  to 
see  any  evidence  which  Isaiah  might  bring  forward 
against  an  alliance  with  Assyria.  Plainly  he  wished  to 
be  rid  of  the  prophet  whose  policy  of  quietness  and  faith 
was  wearisome  nonsense  to  him.  This  was  no  place  for 
preaching! 

And  now  Isaiah’s  wrath  was  stirred,  and  he  said,  “Is 
it  a  small  thing  for  you  to  weary  men — how  he  had 
been  wearied  by  this  conceited  reprobate! — that  ye 
will  weary  my  God  also?  Therefore  the  Lord  himsell 


88 


Men  Unafraid 


will  give  you  a  sign  (7.  13,  14).  The  sign  which  God 
gives  to  the  unbelieving  is  always  a  twofold  sign.  He 
works  the  wonder  whose  possibility  they  scoff  at,  but  he 
works  it  in  a  way  that  will  mean  punishment  upon  their 
infidelity.  So  in  this  case  the  sign  was  to  be  the  swift 
destruction  of  the  enemies  whom  they  feared,  but  this 
deliverance  was  to  do  Israel  no  good,  for  it  was  to  be 
followed  by  a  devastation  of  the  land  at  the  hands  of  the 
Assyrians  to  whom  they  had  fled  for  succor  rather  than 
to  Jehovah. 

The  prophet’s  warning,  however,  was  lost  upon 
Ahaz.  He  carried  out  his  policy  and  made  his_alliance 
with  the  great  world  conqueror;  and  Tiglath-pileser, 
true  to  his  bargain,  marched  upon  Damascus  and  Is¬ 
rael,  and  these  nations  drew  off  their  forces  from  Jeru¬ 
salem.  It  seemed  for  a  time  that  the  king’s  course  had 
been  the  triumph  of  diplomacy,  and  doubtless  men 
sneered  at  Isaiah  for  advising  against  it.  But  the 
tribute  which  the  Assyrian  imposed  upon  Judah  was 
so  heavy  that  it  crippled  the  economic  life  of  the  people 
and  ere  long  the  little  country  rebelled.  Then  came  the 
dread  invasion  just  as  Isaiah  had  predicted.  To  use 
the  quaint  figure  of  one  of  the  writer’s  students,  “the 
floating  log  to  which  Judah  swam  for  salvation  from  the 
flood  turned  out  to  be  an  alligator!” 

It  was  not,  however,  the  fear  of  the  tribute  which 
moved  Isaiah  so  passionately  to  oppose  an  Assyrian 
alliance.  He  well  knew  that  Assyria  would  expect  to 
have  its  hand  on  the  whole  governmental  policy  of 
Judah,  and  would  desire  to  heathenize  it  just  as  did 
the  Greek  emperors  in  later  times.  The  king  would 


Isaiah 


89 


be  a  puppet  of  the  Assyrian  king,  and  would  feel  bound 
to  please  him.  Indeed,  this  process  began  at  once,  for 
we  are  told  that  Ahaz  brought  home  from  his  interview 
with  Tiglath-pileser  the  pattern  of  an  altar  which  he 
set  up  in  Jerusalem  (2  Kings  16.  10).  And  this  was  only 
symbolical  of  the  pattern  of  heathen  ideals  and  morals 
which  would  at  once  begin  to  be  imported.  ‘Judah  had 
a  religion  which  in  its  pure  form  was  immeasurably  su¬ 
perior  to  anything  in  the  world,  and  the  prophet  felt,  and 
rightly  felt,  that  not  only  the  fate  of  his  own  country 
but  the  fate  of  mankind  depended  upon  keeping  it  pure. 

Furthermore,  the  doughty  prophet  knew  that  if  he 
could  hold  the  little  kingdom  in  loyalty  to  their  God  and 
his  pure  laws  they  would  be  such  a  vigorous  and  brave 
people  that  neither  Egypt  nor  Assyria,  the  two  great 
contending  kingdoms  of  the  world  at  that  time,  would 
turn  aside  to  besiege  their  inaccessible  citadel  of  Jeru¬ 
salem.  They  would  be  so  difficult  to  overcome  that  the 
conquest  would  not  be  worth  the  candle,  and  they 
would  be  left  to  themselves  just  as  Switzerland  was  in 
the  World  War. 

To  sum  it  up  then,  in  Isaiah’s  mind  it  was  both  bad 
religion  and  bad  politics  for  them  in  their  fear  of  their 
neighbors  to  take  refuge  under  the  wings  of  the  As¬ 
syrian  vulture.  It  was  too  close  to  his  talons. 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

(Answers  to  questions  where  no  reference  is  given  can  be  found  in  the 

preceding  discussion.) 

1.  What  was  the  date  of  the  invasion  of  Judah  by  northern 
Israel  (Ephraim)  and  Damascus? 

2.  What  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  the  object  of  this 
invasion  of  Judah  by  northern  Israel  and  Damascus? 


9° 


Men  Unafraid 


3.  Is  there  any  evidence  in  Chapter  8  that  the  people,  when 
frightened  at  the  approach  of  Israel  and  Damascus,  had  consulted 
their  wizards  rather  than  Jehovah? 

4.  When  Isaiah  said,  “Take  heed  and  be  quiet”  (7,  9),  did  he 
mean,  Take  heed  and  be  inactive?  or,  Trust  in  God  and  do  not  be 
frightened  into  an  alliance  with  Tiglath-pileser ? 

5.  What  did  Isaiah  wish  to  say  about  the  two  kings  who  were 
attacking  Judah  when  he  called  them  stumps  of  smoking  torches 
(7-  4)  ? 

6.  If  Isaiah  had  persuaded  the  people  to  trust  in  God  and  keep 
quiet  in  their  little  mountain  fastness,  brave  and  united  for  self-de¬ 
fense,  do  you  think  the  great  warring  empires  of  Egypt  and  Assyria 
would  have  bothered  themselves  to  turn  aside  and  spend  the  time 
and  treasure  necessary  to  capture  Jerusalem?  Compare  the  experi¬ 
ence  of  Switzerland  in  the  World  War. 

7.  Why  was  Isaiah  so  much  opposed  to  an  alliance  with  Assyria 
against  Damascus  and  northern  Israel? 

8.  What  would  the  great  pagan  power  of  Assyria  naturally  ex¬ 
pect  from  Judah  as  the  price  of  protection  against  Israel  and  Damas¬ 
cus? 

9.  Ahaz  said,  “I  will  not  ask,  neither  will  I  tempt  the  Lord” 
(7.  12).  Why  did  he  not  ask  a  sign?  because  he  thought  it  would  be 
presumptuous  and  a  trouble  to  Jehovah,  or  because  he  was  afraid 
the  prophet  would  give  him  a  sign  from  God  indicating  that  he  must 
do  what  he  did  not  wish  to  do? 

10.  Isaiah  offered  to  give  Ahaz  a  sign  which,  if  obeyed,  would 
have  saved  his  country  from  entangling  alliances  that  led  at  last  to 
its  ruin.  Seeing  that  he  would  not  heed  or  obey,  what  was  the  nature 
of  the  sign  that  Jehovah  was  forced  to  give  him? 

11.  “Butter  (curds)  and  honey  shall  he  eat  when  he  knoweth  to 
refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good”  (7.  15).  Is  this  a  prediction  of 
plenty,  or  is  it  a  prediction  that  the  child’s  parents  will  be  compelled 
to  feed  him  on  the  chance  food  they  can  obtain  in  a  land  desolated  and 
grown  wild  after  the  Assyrian  invasion?  Compare  7.  21,  22. 

12.  In  what  peculiarly  vivid  language  does  Isaiah  in  7.  18-25  and 
8.  5-8  predict  the  devastation  that  will  come  if  Judah  makes  an  alli¬ 
ance  with  Assyria? 

13.  Where  in  Chapter  8  does  Isaiah  suggest  that  after  the  na¬ 
tion’s  rejection  of  his  advice  to  trust  God  instead  of  putting  them¬ 
selves  at  the  mercy  of  the  fierce  Assyrian  conqueror  he  felt  impelled 
to  give  himself  to  the  task  of  making  his  message  the  secure  posses¬ 
sion  of  his  little  group  of  disciples? 


THE  PROPHECIES  OF  THE  COMING  OF 

CHRIST 


PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION 

Before  losing  himself  amid  the  problems  that  are 
raised  by  the  scholars,  the  student  of  the  prophecies 
of  the  coming  of  Christ  ought  to  take  a  long  and 
steady  look  at  the  unchallenged  marvels  that  are 
found  in  these  Old  Testament  oracles.  They  stand 
like  snow-capped  mountains,  always  refreshing  him 
every  time  he  catches  a  glimpse  of  them  through  the 
trees  of  the  jungle  of  Biblical  criticism  in  which  he  is 
apt  to  get  lost. 

The  Marvels  of  Messianic  Prophecy 

The  first  marvel  is  this,  that  long  centuries  before  the 
coming  of  Christ,  when  the  little  kingdom  of  Israel  or 
Judah  seemed  about  to  be  ground  down  under  the  heel 
of  some  mighty  pagan  conqueror,  a  prophet  would  arise 
and  proclaim  the  coming  of  a  great  Deliverer  through 
whom  Jehovah  would  not  only  save  them  from  ex¬ 
tinction  but  set  up  his  reign  over  the  whole  earth.  The 
audacity  of  the  faith  of  these  men  grows  upon  one  the 
more  he  contemplates  it,  because  especially  after  the 
destruction  of  northern  Israel  Judah  was  a  mere  speck 
in  the  great  world  mass,  an  utterly  insignificant  hill 
tribe  in  the  presence  of  great  world  empires  like  As¬ 
syria,  Babylon,  and  Egypt.  One  filling  of  a  gasoline 

91 


92 


Men  Unafraid 


tank  would  have  been  far  more  than  sufficient  to  take 
an  automobile  over  the  whole  length  of  it. 

The  next  unchallenged  marvel  is  the  fact  that  these 
daring  hopes  were  not  uttered  by  a  solitary  genius,  or 
by  a  few  prophets  in  a  single  generation,  but  all  down 
through  the  centuries,  whenever  the  lamp  of  Israel’s 
fortunes  burned  low  these  great  fires  of  patriotic  and 
religious  expectation  flamed  up  mysteriously,  all  the 
brighter  and  stronger  because  of  the  apparent  hope¬ 
lessness  of  the  condition.  In  Japan  there  is  an  avenue 
of  lofty  and  beautiful  trees,  nine  miles  long,  leading  up 
to  one  of  the  great  temples  at  Nikko.  The  pious  soul 
who  planted  these  trees  wished  thus  to  impress  visitors 
with  a  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  the  shrine  to  which 
they  were  going.  This  seems  to  be  what  God  was  doing 
when  all  along  the  pathway  of  the  centuries  he  raised 
up  a  continuous  line  of  prophets  proclaiming  the  com¬ 
ing  of  a  great  Deliverer. 

The  modern,  scientific  mind  seeks  for  continuity  in 
all  that  it  is  called  upon  to  believe.  It  wants  to  see  in 
everything  that  it  is  expected  to  accept  a  part  of  a  great 
divine  process.  And  this  we  surely  have  in  the  long 
line  of  Jewish  prophets  who  proclaimed  the  coming  of 
the  Bringer  of  salvation.  Christ  was  not  put  down 
artificially  into  his  age  as  a  Christmas  tree  is  thrust  into 
a  box  and  nailed  there.  His  roots  reach  far  back  into 
the  soil  of  history. 

But  the  supreme  wonder  is  the  fact  that  after  the 
century-long  heraldings  of  the  great  King,  after  history 
seemed  to  have  entered  into  a  conspiracy  with  the 
powers  of  darkness  to  prove  that  these  ancient  prophets 


Isaiah 


93 


were  madmen,  the  matchless  Personality  did  come, 
and  he  was  far  greater  and  more  satisfying  to  human 
needs  than  any  of  them  had  ever  dreamed. 

Thus  we  have  three  wonders,  the  wonder  of  the  dar¬ 
ing  faith  of  these  men  amid  the  darkness,  the  wonder 
of  the  succession  of  men  in  a  straight  line  down  to 
Christ,  and  the  surpassing  wonder  of  their  vindication 
in  the  coming  to  the  earth  of  a  Man  whose  greatness 
was  far  beyond  even  their  most  glorious  imaginings. 
And  before  we  focus  our  eyes  on  the  difficulties  of  Mes¬ 
sianic  prophecy  we  ought  always  to  take  a  long  and 
steady  look  at  these  three  great  marvels. 

The  New  Testament  Attitude  Toward  Messianic 

Prophecy 

As  Jesus  looked  back  over  the  long  line  of  Hebrew 
seers  holding  up  their  torches  in  the  darkness,  he  said, 
They  spake  of  me.  “Beginning  from  Moses  and  from 
all  the  prophets,  he  interpreted  to  them  in  all  the 
Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself”  (Luke  24.  27). 
He  plainly  conceived  himself  to  be  the  goal  of  prophecy. 
And  the  New  Testament  is  unanimous  in  its  belief  that 
the  ancient  prophecies  were  fulfilled  in  him. 

And  yet  it  is  plain  that  Jesus  was  a  surprise  to  those 
who  were  looking  for  him,  and  even  a  disappointment 
to  many.  John  the  Baptist,  his  immediate  forerunner, 
concerning  whom  Jesus  spoke  such  words  of  praise, 
could  scarcely  believe  that  this  kind  friend,  who  went 
about  doing  p'ous  chores,  was  the  long-expected  Mes¬ 
siah,  and  he  sent  a  committee  to  him  asking,  “Art  thou 
he  that  cometh,  or  look  we  for  another?”  (Luke  7.  20) 


94 


Men  Unafraid 


The  principal  stumbling-block  which  John  found  in 
Jesus  was  doubtless  the  fact  that  he  did  not  drive  out 
Herod  and  Pontius  Pilate,  and  the  miserable  wretches 
who  had  control  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  He  found 
in  Jesus  the  spiritual  fascination,  but  not  the  imperial 
glory.  There  was  too  big  a  contrast  between  Isaiah’s 
picture  of  the  great  monarch  sitting  upon  the  throne 
of  David,  who  was  to  smite  the  earth  with  the  rod  of  his 
mouth  and  with  the  breath  of  his  lips  to  slay  the 
wicked  (u.  4),  and  the  barefoot  peasant  who,  instead 
of  sitting  on  a  throne,  was  apt  to  be  found  seated  on 
the  ground  in  front  of  some  humble  cottage  instructing 
the  villagers  in  the  things  of  God. 

The  answer  to  this  difficulty  only  began  to  be  seen 
after  the  resurrection,  when  the  crucified  and  risen 
Christ  poured  out  the  Spirit  upon  his  disciples  at 
Pentecost  and  began  his  triumphant  march  of  conquest 
over  the  hearts  and  affections  of  the  race.  To  us  after 
the  centuries  the  answer  of  course  is  the  obvious  one 
that  the  three  years  of  Jesus’  earthly  ministry  did  not 
complete  his  career,  and  that  the  gradual  unfolding  of 
Christian  history  has  more  and  more  exalted  him  in  the 
affections  and  adoration  of  men  until  now  he  has  be¬ 
come  the  chief  source  of  moral  and  religious  authority 
on  the  earth,  and  gives  sure  promise  of  being  enthroned 
at  length  not  merely  in  the  hearts  of  the  saints  but  in 
all  the  economic  and  social  life  of  mankind.  And  then 
the  imperial  dreams  of  Isaiah  concerning  a  king  who 
was  to  reign  at  Jerusalem  over  that  small  part  of  the 
earth’s  surface  which  constituted  his  world  will  be  more 
than  fulfilled — they  will  be  overflowed. 


]  SAIAH 


95 


Consequently  it  is  not  correct  to  say  that  the  dreams 
of  the  temporal  reign  of  Christ  were  alloy  in  what  should 
have  been  the  exclusively  spiritual  vision  of  the  old 
seers.  It  would  be  better  to  say  that  their  conception  of 
his  temporal  reign  was  not  big  enough,  and  that  the 
slow  method  of  teaching  and  suffering  by  which  his  do¬ 
minion  over  the  world  would  be  achieved  had  not  yet 
been  revealed  to  them.  When  Christ’s  principles  have 
their  way  in  politics,  government  and  business,  it  can 
be  truly  said  that  he  is  the  temporal  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  Lord  of  the  earth. 

The  Modern  Interpretation  of  Messianic 

Prophecy 

But  the  greatest  difficulty  to  the  modern  mind  which 
insists  on  looking  at  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  in  the  light 
of  the  history  out  of  which  they  grew  is  the  fact  that 
the  writer  plainly  expected  the  Messiah  to  come  in  his 
own  day  and  deliver  the  people  from  the  Assyrian  yoke. 
And,  of  course,  Christ  did  not  come  till  long  centuries 
after  the  Assyrian  empire  had  ceased  to  exist.  As  a 
young  lady  exclaimed,  “When  Jesus  came  the  garments 
which  the  prophets  had  made  for  him  were  not  only  too 
small,  but  they  had  gone  out  of  style.” 

Anyone  who  studies  prophecy  will  quickly  admit  all 
this.  But  Messiah  was  to  be  the  representative  of  God, 
and  the  people  in  any  age  of  course  expected  him  to 
come  and  do  for  them  what  they  needed  to  have  done. 
If  their  particular  danger  was  an  Assyrian  invasion, 
that  was  exactly  the  place  where  Jehovah’s  repre¬ 
sentative  would  give  them  help.  All  the  prophets  ex- 


96 


Men  Unafraid 


pected  Messiah  to  save  the  people  of  their  own  time 
out  of  their  own  special  difficulty.  We  find  the  same 
kind  of  expectation  in  the  New  Testament  in  regard  to 
the  second  coming  of  Christ.  The  writer  of  the  book 
of  Revelation  plainly  expected  Christ  to  deliver  the 
church  from  the  oppressive  power  of  Rome. 

One  thing  is  sure,  we  must  not  think  of  these  seers  as 
though  they  were  almanac  makers  predicting  the  pre¬ 
cise  times  and  manner  in  which  Jesus  was  to  come,  and 
the  exact  scenery  in  which  his  ministry  was  to  be  car¬ 
ried  out.  It  simply  was  not  given  to  these  men  to  know 
the  times  and  seasons.  Jesus  said,  “Of  that.day  and 
hour  knoweth  no  one,  not  even  the  angels  of  heaven, 
neither  the  Son,  but  the  Father  only”  (Matthew  24.  36). 
And  if  Jesus  did  not  know  the  times,  how  much  less 
would  Isaiah! 

And  if  a  man  cannot  foresee  the  time  in  which  a 
prophecy  is  to  be  fulfilled  he  cannot  foresee  the  scenery. 
If  he  is  not  certain  whether  an  event  is  to  take  place  in 
May  or  October  he  does  not  know  whether  to  paint  the 
background  with  apple  blossoms  or  with  red-tinted 
fruit.  The  prophet  did  not  have  in  his  mind  a  photo¬ 
graphic  picture  of  the  earthly  ministry  of  Jesus.  If 
such  an  image  had  been  before  his  mind  it  would  have 
been  true  only  of  the  single  instant  at  which  the 
prophetic  camera  had  been  snapped.  The  only  possible 
scenery  which  a  prophet  could  use,  and  the  only  scenery 
which  his  hearers  would  be  able  to  appreciate,  was  the 
scenery  of  his  own  day. 

And  so  we  cast  aside  the  almanac  theory  of  Old 
Testament  prophecy,  and  we  do  it  with  gratitude  that 


Isaiah 


97 


we  are  free  from  the  deadening  influence  of  such  a  view. 
If  it  could  be  proven  that  one  could  figure  out  the  pre¬ 
cise  times  and  seasons  in  which  a  prophecy  was  to  be 
fulfilled,  and  the  precise  manner  of  it,  we  might  have  a 
Bible  whose  credit  would  go  up  for  a  moment  like  a 
skyrocket,  but  its  light  would  as  quickly  come  down 
again  in  the  darkness.  For  if  it  could  be  demonstrated 
that  the  lid  of  prophecy  fitted  mechanically  over  the 
box  of  fulfillment,  we  should  have  a  mechanical  uni¬ 
verse  where  history  was  fixed,  and  events  ticked  them¬ 
selves  off  like  the  mechanism  in  the  time  lock  of  a  bank 
safe.  And  that  would  mean  that  all  the  strivings  and 
all  the  prayers  and  all  the  exhortations  of  the  Bible 
were  but  vain  and  ineffectual  beatings  against  the  huge 
cog-wheel  forces  of  inexorable  necessity. 

But  someone  says,  If  Isaiah  predicted  the  coming  of 
the  wonderful  Deliverer  in  his  own  day,  and  he  did  not 
come  for  eight  hundred  years,  how  can  we  escape  from 
the  conclusion  that  Isaiah  was  both  deceiver  and  de¬ 
ceived  ? 

Two  things  may  be  said  in  answer  to  this  question. 
In  the  first  place  Isaiah  was  under  the  necessity  of  as¬ 
suring  his  generation  that  God  would  deliver  them  if 
they  trusted  him.  To  have  failed  to  do  this  would  have 
been  to  belie  God  and  to  allow  the  people  to  become 
utterly  discouraged.  But  how  could  he  do  this?  If  he 
had  known  of  heaven  he  might  have  promised  them  its 
rewards,  but  that  was  a  light  that  did  not  fully  dawn 
until  the  time  of  Christ.  There  is  a  hint  of  a  resurrec¬ 
tion  in  Isaiah,  but  that  was  a  resurrection  to  an  earthly 
life.  Nothing  is  said  about  the  many  mansions  in  the 


98 


Men  Unafraid 


Father’s  house.  And  so  the  only  way  Isaiah  could 
assure  men  that  God  was  good,  and  that  he  would  cer¬ 
tainly  bless  his  righteous  servants,  was  to  paint  a  glow¬ 
ing  picture  of  an  ideal  day  which  was  soon  to  dawn. 
The  people  who  believed  his  promises  were  not  de¬ 
ceived,  for  while  they  did  not  enter  into  the  earthly 
Utopia  that  Isaiah  pictured,  we  are  allowed  on  the 
authority  of  Christ  to  believe  that  they  entered  into  the 
heavenly  rewards,  and  paradise  was  a  more  perfect  ful¬ 
fillment  of  the  prophet’s  dream  than  the  glorious  pros¬ 
pect  of  peace  and  plenty  which  Isaiah  held  out  to  them. 

And  even  setting  aside  the  fulfillment  of-  Isaiah’s 
prophecies  in  the  unseen  world,  his  prophecy  of  the 
coming  kingdom  was  a  great  and  solid  contribution  to 
his  own  age.  The  fundamental  need  of  men  is  not  so 
much  a  knowledge  of  how  soon  the  kingdom  will  come 
as  an  absolute  certainty  that  it  is  coming.  What  God 
will  certainly  do  in  the  future  reveals  what  he  now  is. 
A  man  who  knows  that  he  will  receive  a  certain  sum  of 
money  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  is  in  a  very  real 
sense  enjoying  it  now.  When  men  have  this  assurance 
that  the  kingdom  will  come  they  are  “saved  by  hope.” 
The  glowing  picture  that  Isaiah  painted  for  his  genera¬ 
tion  made  them  look  up  and  know  that  all  the  flowers 
that  were  to  bloom  in  the  gardens  of  the  new  day  were 
already  blossoming  in  the  heart  of  God.  And  God  him¬ 
self  became  their  exceeding  great  reward. 

To  appreciate  what  the  prophets  of  Messiah  did  for 
the  ages  preceding  his  coming  one  needs  only  to  stop 
and  picture  to  himself  the  outcome  of  Jewish  history 
if  its  leaders  had  not  been  inspired  with  this  hope. 


Isaiah 


99 


Wh  at,  for  instance,  would  have  happened  amid  the 
discouragements  of  the  exile  in  Babylon,  or  in  the  later 
times  of  fierce  persecution  under  the  successors  of  Alex¬ 
ander  the  Great,  if  the  people  had  not  been  looking 
with  eager  expectation  for  the  great  Deliverer? 

It  may  be  taken  for  granted  beforehand  that  the  an¬ 
cient  prophets  did  not  see  the  King  in  all  his  beauty.  If 
they  had  possessed  this  fullness  of  vision  one  could 
hardly  say  that  our  Lord  gave  a  new  revelation.  Eye 
would  already  have  seen,  and  ear  heard,  the  things  that 
God  had  prepared  for  them  that  love  him.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  the  prophecies  were  a  light  shining  in  a  dark 
place,  until  the  day  dawned,  and  the  day-star  arose  in 
men’s  hearts  (2  Peter  1.  19).  Even  Paul,  who,  of  course, 
had  a  fuller  revelation  than  any  Old  Testament  saint, 
said:  “We  know  in  part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part;  but 
when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  that  which  is  in  part 
shall  be  done  away”  (1  Corinthians  13.  9,10).  We  should 
come  to  the  Old  Testament  oracles  not  expecting  to  find 
the  gold  worked  up  into  the  engraved  jewelry  of  the  New 
Testament  revelation,  but  rather  expecting  to  find  the 
richest  gold-bearing  quartz.  If  we  come  in  this  state 
of  mind  we  shall  be  more  than  satisfied  with  what  we 
discover. 

To  consider  all  the  foreshadowings  of  Christ  in  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  would  require  the  writing  of  a  com¬ 
mentary  on  the  whole  book,  for  we,  with  the  old  Jewish 
rabbis,  consider  everything  to  be  .a  prophecy  of  Christ 
which  expresses  faith  in  the  coming  of  that  ideal  social 
order  which  Christ  came  to  establish  in  the  earth.  Any 
prophecy  is  Messianic  when  it  predicts  the  coming  of 


IOO 


Men  Unafraid 


one  who  is  to  accomplish  the  Messianic  mission,  no 
matter  in  what  garb  the  prophet  may  conceive  him,  or 
in  what  historical  setting.  Whenever  any  old  seer  with 
daring  hope  painted  a  picture  of  the  ideal  day  which 
showed  that  he  understood  the  character  of  God,  and 
the  laws  according  to  which  he  was  ruling  the  world, 
that  picture  is  a  true  prophecy  of  Christ.  And  any  one 
of  a  thousand  ways  in  which  these  longings  have  been 
realized  and  these  principles  have  been  worked  out  in 
the  succeeding  ages,  may  be  called  a  fulfillment  of  the 
picture  in  which  the  prophet  visualized  his  understand¬ 
ing  of  the  ideal  day.  Any  wistful  longing  for  that  which 
Christ  came  to  bring,  any  word  which  goes  in  the  direc¬ 
tion  that  Jesus  went,  may  be  called  a  Messianic 
prophecy.  And  from  this  standpoint  the  whole  of 
Isaiah  may  be  called  “a  sigh  for  Christ.” 

We  shall  be  compelled,  however,  to  confine  ourselves 
to  the  consideration  of  a  few  of  the  more  outstanding 
oracles  which  visualize  him  as  a  great  King,  some  of 
which  may  be  of  a  later  date  than  the  time  of  Isaiah  or, 
as  certain  recent  scholars  are  urging,  of  an  earlier  date; 
but  all  of  which  are  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  Isaiah, 
and  represent  his  fundamental  ideas. 

THE  IMMANUEL  PROPHECY 

(7-  i-!7) 

We  shall  begin  with  the  oracle  on  which  we  are  dis¬ 
posed  to  bear  least  weight  as  a  prophecy  of  Christ. 

When  Ahaz,  too  frightened  and  too  busy  with  prepa¬ 
rations  for  the  defense  of  his  capital,  not  only  refused  to 


I  SAIAH 


IOI 


heed  the  word  of  the  prophet,  but  rejected  his  offer  of  a 
sign  from  God,  Isaiah  sternly  rejoined: 

Therefore  the  Lord  himself  will  give  you  a  sign: 
Behold  a  virgin  shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son,  and 
shall  call  his  name  Immanuel.  Butter  and  honey 
shall  he  eat,  when  he  knoweth  to  refuse  the  evil, 
and  choose  the  good.  For  before  the  child  shall 
know  to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good,  the 
land  whose  two  kings  thou  abhorrest  shall  be  for¬ 
saken.  Jehovah  will  bring  upon  thee,  and  upon 
thy  people,  and  upon  thy  father’s  house,  days  that 
have  not  come,  from  the  day  that  Ephraim  de¬ 
parted  from  Judah — even  the  king  of  Assyria. 

Matthew  quotes  a  part  of  this  passage  as  a  prophecy 
of  Christ.  In  spite  of  this,  many  scholars  are  saying 
that  this  is  no  prophecy  of  the  Messiah  at  all.  They 
urge  that  it  was  a  threat  of  judgment  and  that  it  had  no 
other  practical  purpose  so  far  as  the  king  was  con¬ 
cerned.  The  object  in  using  the  figure  of  the  young 
Child  was  to  intensify  the  following  picture  of  destruc¬ 
tion.  The  great  things  which  the  fond  hope  of  young 
motherhood  always  believes  and  plans  for  the  firstborn 
are  contrasted  with  that  utter  devastation  of  all  fair 
hopes  and  expectations  which  is  to  come  through  the 
folly  and  atheism  of  the  king. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  prophecy  was  pri¬ 
marily  a  threat  to  Ahaz.  The  prophet  had  gone  to  the 
king  with  a  message  of  hope  and  deliverance.  But 
alas,  the  king’s  folly  was  to  frustrate  it.  A  sword  was 
to  pierce  the  heart  of  the  young  mother  who  in  great 


102 


Men  Unafraid 


faith  had  called  her  son  Immanuel — God  with  us — 
for  he  was  to  be  cast  out  with  his  parents  to  the  life  of  a 
nomad,  and  was  to  be  nourished  upon  the  wild  honey 
that  might  chance  to  be  found  in  the  crevices  of  the 
rocks,  and  the  curds  that  were  made  from  the  milk  of 
the  few  animals  that  were  left  after  the  devastation  of 
the  land. 

But  this  judgment  in  the  mind  of  Isaiah  could  never 
be  final.  When  he  was  bidden  to  go  to  the  king  he  tells 
us  that  God  commanded  him  to  take  with  him  Shear- 
jashub,  his  son.  The  name  of  the  child  means,  A  rem¬ 
nant  shall  return.  This  thought,  then,  of  deliverance 
after  desolation  was  in  the  prophet’s  mind  when  he 
first  went  to  the  king.  Indeed  this  idea  of  a  returning 
remnant  is  in  the  very  warp  and  woof  of  his  lifelong 
message  to  Israel.  We  understand  him,  then,  to  say 
that  Ahaz  will  be  punished,  his  kingdom  will  be 
ravaged;  but  we  understand  him  to  announce  the  doom 
in  such  language  as  suggests  hope  for  the  future. 

In  support  of  the  view  that  the  child  Immanuel  is  to 
be  the  Deliverer,  we  may  point  to  8.  8,  where  the  devas¬ 
tated  land  is  called  Immanuel’s  land,  indicating  that 
he  was  to  be  a  king;  and  also  to  the  prophecy  of  the 
Wonderful  Child  in  9.  1-7,  which  seems  to  have  been 
spoken  about  this  time  to  the  immediate  circle  of 
Isaiah’s  disciples,  and  is  most  naturally  associated  with 
the  Child  whose  name  is  to  be  called  Immanuel. 

In  opposition  to  Matthew’s  application  of  the 
prophecy  to  the  infant  Christ  it  is  also  objected  that 
the  Hebrew  word  for  virgin  does  not  necessarily  mean 
virgin  in  the  sense  in  which  Matthew  quotes  this 


Isaiah 


103 


prophecy,  but  is  a  general  word  for  a  young  woman  of 
marriageable  age.  This  is  now  universally  admitted  by 
scholars.  And  the  mere  fact  that  the  New  Testament 
says  that  this  prophecy  was  fulfilled  in  Christ  is  not 
conclusive  proof  that  the  writer  deems  it  a  conscious 
prediction  of  him,  for  that  is  not  always  what  the  New 
Testament  means  when  it  says  a  prophecy  is  fulfilled. 
It  often  simply  means,  Here  is  another  instance  of  the 
operation  of  the  same  principle  to  which  the  old 
prophet  formerly  called  attention.  It  is  as  though  a 
schoolboy,  after  successfully  solving  a  problem  in 
mathematics,  should  say,  This  all  works  out  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  formula.  And  sometimes  the  reference  to  an 
Old  Testament  oracle  as  having  been  fulfilled  merely 
means  that  the  Old  Testament  phrase  beautifully  ex¬ 
presses  what  the  writer  wishes  to  say,  and  he  uses  it  as 
we  would  use  a  quotation  from  Shakespeare.  As  John 
Wesley  said  long  ago,  the  New  Testament  writers 
deemed  an  Old  Testament  prophecy  to  have  been  ful¬ 
filled  when  its  words  aptly  express  a  New  Testament 
fact,  even  though  those  words  were  used  by  the  Old 
Testament  writer  in  a  very  different  connection. 

And  so  we  would  put  no  stress  upon  this  passage  as  a 
prediction  of  the  virgin  birth  of  Christ.  The  deity  of 
our  Lord  is  too  well  established  to  need  any  strained 
interpretations  in  its  defense.  And  it  is  far  more  im¬ 
portant  to  see  the  foreshadowings  of  Christ  in  the  Old 
Testament  than  to  be  able  to  find  direct  predictions 
which  have  been  literally  fulfilled. 

And  surely  the  faith  of  the  young  mother  that  her 
child  would  have  the  wonderful  presence  of  God  in  his 


104 


Men  Unafraid 


life  was  a  foreshadowing  of  the  faith  of  the  virgin  who 
called  her  son  Jesus  because  he  would  save  his  people 
from  their  sins;  and  the  subsequent  misery  of  the  home¬ 
less  parents  and  child  was  a  foreshadowing  of  the 
misery  of  the  Holy  Family  hunted  by  Herod.  Both  the 
faith  and  the  misery  are  illustrations  of  what  is  con¬ 
stantly  happening  in  a  world  where  God  is  forever 
giving  good  things,  and  man  in  unbelief  and  hardness 
of  heart  is  forever  trampling  upon  them. 

THE  WONDERFUL  CHILD 

(9-  i-7) 

Out  of  the  same  dark  crisis  from  which  the  Im¬ 
manuel  prophecy  sprang,  when  Isaiah’s  voice  was  set  at 
naught,  shines  like  a  mighty  torch  the  prophecy  of  the 
Wonderful  Child.  Immediately  after  his  prediction  of 
the  horrors  of  the  Assyrian  invasion  the  prophet  ex¬ 
claimed  : 

But  there  shall  be  no  gloom  to  her  that  was  in 
anguish.  In  the  former  time  he  brought  into  con¬ 
tempt  the  land  of  Zebulun  and  the  land  of  Naph- 
tali;  but  in  the  latter  time  hath  he  made  it  glorious, 
by  the  way  of  the  sea,  beyond  the  Jordan,  Galilee 
of  the  nations.  The  people  that  walked  in  dark¬ 
ness  have  seen  a  great  light:  they  that  dwelt  in  the 
land  of  the  shadow  of  death,  upon  them  hath  the 
light  shined.  .  .  .  For  unto  us  a  Child  is  born,  unto 
us  a  Son  is  given;  and  the  government  shall  be 
upon  his  shoulder;  and  his  name  shall  be  called 
Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Mighty  God,  Fverlasting 
Father,  Prince  of  Peace.  Of  the  increase  of  his 


Isaiah 


io5 

government  and  of  peace  there  shall  be  no  end, 
upon  the  throne  of  David,  and  upon  his  kingdom, 
to  establish  it,  and  to  uphold  it  with  justice  and 
with  righteousness  from  henceforth  even  forever. 

Many,  and  indeed  most,  scholars  conceive  this  Won¬ 
derful  Child  to  be  the  same  Immanuel  who  was  to  be 
brought  up  amid  the  desolation  of  his  ravaged  country 
(7.  10-17).  Man’s  unbelief  could  make  him  a  wretched 
nomad  upon  the  site  of  the  gardens  and  farms  ol  his 
native  country,  but  man’s  wickedness  could  not  per¬ 
manently  keep  him  down  or  subvert  the  gracious  pur¬ 
poses  of  God. 

But  whatever  our  conception  of  the  prophecy,  cer¬ 
tain  it  is  that  we  have  here  the  vision  of  an  altogether 
marvelous  personage  who  was  to  be  born  to  save  his 
people.  The  fact  that  it  is  said  that  he  was  to  come  to 
Galilee,  as  Jesus  really  did,  is  interesting,  but  not  some¬ 
thing  that  ought  to  focus  our  attention  and  keep  it 
away  from  the  more  wonderful  fact  that  in  the  utter 
desolation  of  this  time  the  prophet  was  inspired  with 
such  a  daring  faith.  With  the  weak  and  wicked  Ahaz 
on  the  throne,  and  Tiglath-pileser,  the  mighty  As¬ 
syrian  monarch,  coming  up  like  a  flood  to  overrun 
western  Asia  and  transport  or  annihilate  the  con¬ 
quered  nations,  the  thought  of  a  world-swaying  Prince 
arising  in  the  wee  little  mountain  kingdom  of  Judah 
seemed  a  dream  of  madness.  And  yet  here  is  the 
prophet  telling  us  that  a  Child  is  born  and  “his  name 
shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Mighty  God, 
Everlasting  bather,  Prince  of  Peace.’’ 

And  notice  how  this  king  was  to  be  the  exact  counter- 


io6 


Men  Unafraid 


part  and  checkmate  of  the  cruel  Assyrian  conqueror 
whose  fierce  march  on  western  Asia  called  forth  this 
prophecy.  Of  the  increase  of  Tiglath-pileser’s  govern- - 
ment  and  of  war  there  seemed  to  be  no  end  in  that 
dreadful  day.  But  to  offset  his  conquest  the  prophet 
says  of  Messiah,  “Of  the  increase  of  his  government 
and  of  peace  there  shall  be  no  end.”  For  every  terrible 
and  destructive  thing  that  Tiglath-pileser  stood  for 
there  was  a  powerful  and  benevolent  counterpart  in  the 
Messiah. 

Imagine  the  comfort  and  hope  and  inspiration  which 
these  words  must  have  afforded  to  the  shuddering 
audience  of  the  faithful  who  had,  perchance,  just  heard 
of  some  new  horror  of  the  Assyrian  conqueror.  And 
the  prophet  adds,  “The  zeal  of  Jehovah  of  hosts  will 
perform  this”  (9.  7).  That  is  to  say,  Back  of  these  glad 
words  is  the  enthusiasm  of  God. 

THE  SUPREME  JUDGE  AND  DELIVERER 

(11.  1-10) 

And  there  shall  come  forth  a  shoot  out  of  the 
stock  of  Jesse,  and  a  branch  out  of  his  roots  shall 
bear  fruit.  And  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  shall  rest 
upon  him,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding, 
the  spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the  spirit  of  knowl¬ 
edge  and  of  the  fear  of  Jehovah.  And  his  delight 
shall  be  in  the  fear  of  Jehovah;  and  he  shall  not 
judge  after  the  sight  of  his  eyes,  neither  decide 
after  the  hearing  of  his  ears;  but  with  righteousness 
shall  he  judge  the  poor,  and  decide  with  equity 
for  the  meek  of  the  earth;  and  he  shall  smite  the 


Isaiah 


107 

earth  with  the  rod  of  his  mouth;  and  with  the 
breath  of  his  lips  shall  he  slay  the  wicked.  And 
righteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  waist,  and 
faithfulness  the  girdle  of  his  loins  (1 1 .  1-5). 

This  marvelous  poem  does  not  have  a  distinct  and 
unmistakable  historic  background.  It  is  a  dream  that 
might  have  come  out  of  any  of  those  centuries  of  op¬ 
pression  where  the  judges  decided  by  hearsay  and 
where  the  poor  were  thrust  aside  in  favor  of  those  who 
came  with  outward  show  and  pretense.  It  is  a  dream  of 
justice  in  a  world  of  oppression. 

The  king  is  to  be  of  the  stock  of  Jesse.  The  prophets 
had  an  idea  that  nothing  great  and  beautiful  would  ever 
be  allowed  permanently  to  die.  David  had  been  so 
great  that  God  would  surely  not  permit  his  dynasty  to 
fall  to  the  ground.  It  is  doubtful  whether  a  man  so 
spiritual  as  Isaiah  would  have  greatly  stressed  the  ne¬ 
cessity  of  this  monarch  being  a  lineal  descendant  of 
David,  although  doubtless  this  was  what  he  had  in 
mind.  The  essential  point  is  that  he  shall  carry  on  the 
great  traditions  which  David  originated,  for  that  mon¬ 
arch  had  so  captured  the  imagination  of  the  people 
by  his  generosity,  courage,  and  idealism  that  to  them 
the  ideal  day  was  but  the  flowering  out  of  that  which 
he  stood  for. 

The  great  ruler  is  to  be  a  philosopher  and  a  sage.  He 
is  to  have  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding. 
But  he  is  also  to  have  the  spirit  of  counsel  and  might. 
He  is  to  be  no  mere  “professor,”  but  a  statesman,  a 
practical  man  of  affairs  with  the  ability  to  carry  out 
great  designs.  And  all  of  this  is  to  be  spiritualized  and 


io8 


Men  Unafraid 


illuminated  through  his  touch  with  God,  for  he  is  to 
have  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  Jehovah. 
He  is  to  be  quick  of  understanding  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  or,  as  it  might  be  literally  translated,  he  is  to  be 
quick  of  scent  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  He  is  to  have  an 
instinct  for  God’s  will  that  is  like  the  hound’s  scent  for 
game. 

And  like  all  the  great  prophets,  the  Messiah  is  to  go 
beneath  the  surface  and  not  judge  by  conventional  and 
artificial  standards.  He  is  not  to  judge  after  the  sight 
of  his  eyes,  nor  to  decide  after  the  hearing  of  his  ears. 
Like  a  physician  with  an  X-ray  machine  he  is  to  go  into 
the  very  heart  of  the  problems  that  are  brought  before 
him,  and  read  the  innermost  thoughts  and  intentions  of 
men.  And  this  implies,  of  course,  that  the  poor  man 
will  have  a  chance  in  his  court,  and  will  be  delivered 
from  his  arrogant  and  lying  oppressors. 

The  word  of  the  great  judge  is  to  be  so  powerful  and 
so  quickly  obeyed  that  it  might  be  said  that  he  will 
smite  the  earth  with  the  rod  of  his  mouth,  and  with 
the  breath  of  his  lips  will  he  slay  the  wicked.  Like  Mrs. 
Stowe  with  her  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin,  he  is  to  smite 
wrongs,  and  they  will  die.  And  just  as  the  girdle  was  in 
Isaiah’s  time  the  most  impressive  and  prominent  part 
of  a  man’s  wardrobe,  so  righteousness  and  faithfulness 
will  be  the  one  thing  that  men  will  always  see  in 
Messiah’s  actions  and  in  his  spirit.  His  character  and 
his  goodness  are  to  be  more  conspicuous  even  than  his 
gifts. 

Then  follows  that  beautiful  picture  of  the  day  when 
“the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard 


Isaiah 


109 

shall  lie  down  with  the  kid;  and  the  calf  and  the  young 
lion  and  the  fading  together;  and  a  little  child  shall 
lead  them”  (11.  6).  Whether  this  was  originally  asso¬ 
ciated  with  the  great  prophecy  of  the  inspired  Prince, 
we  do  not  know,  but  it  is  placed  most  appropriately  in 
connection  with  it. 

Of  course  this  is  a  poem,  and  the  man  who  raises 
biological  questions  in  connection  with  it  and  calls 
our  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  alimentary  canal  of 
the  lion  is  not  adapted  to  the  digestion  of  straw,  illus¬ 
trates  that  which  Davidson  of  Edinburgh  called  “the 
chief  impediment  to  the  understanding  of  the  Old 
Testament — the  prosaic  mind.”  A  modern  prophet, 
of  course,  would  not  dwell  fondly  on  this  vision  of  the 
taming  of  the  wild  animals,  for  they  have  ceased  to  be  a 
menace;  but  the  idea  back  of  this  picture  of  warring 
nature  at  peace  is  one  greatly  needed  to-day.  Men  are 
saying  that  the  laws  of  social  psychology  are  such  that 
the  man  who  has  wheat  to  sell  must  forever  fight  over 
the  price  with  the  man  who  wishes  to  buy  it;  and  that 
the  man  who  wishes  to  hire  his  fellow  man  to  help  him 
in  the  building  of  his  house  will,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  forever  haggle  with  him  over  his  wages.  War, 
they  say,  is  in  the  nature  of  things.  The  prophet  says 
Nay,  the  goal  of  history  is  peace. 

THE  SURE  FOUNDATION 

(28.  14-22) 

Another  most  interesting  prophecy  of  Isaiah  that  is 
quoted  in  the  New  Testament  as  referring  to  Christ  is 
found  in  the  account  of  the  prophet’s  conflict  with  the 


I  IO 


Men  Unafraid 


scoffing  rulers  of  Israel  at  the  time  when  he  was  warn¬ 
ing  them  so  earnestly  against  the  fatal  results  of  their 
lying  diplomacy  and  their  secret  treaty  with  Egypt. 

Because  ye  have  said,  We  have  made  a  covenant 
with  death,  and  with  Sheol  are  we  at  agreement; 
when  the  overflowing  scourge  shall  pass  through, 
it  shall  not  come  unto  us;  for  we  have  made  lies  our 
refuge,  and  under  falsehood  have  we  hid  ourselves: 
therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah,  Behold,  I 
lay  in  Zion  for  a  foundation  a  stone,  a  tried  stone, 
a  precious  corner-stone  of  sure  foundation:  he  that 
believeth  shall  not  be  in  haste.  And  I  will  make 
justice  the  line,  and  righteousness  the  plummet; 
and  the  hail  shall  sweep  away  the  refuge  of  lies, 
and  the  waters  shall  overflow  the  hiding-place. 
And  your  covenant  with  death  shall  be  annulled, 
and  your  agreement  with  Sheol  shall  not  stand 
(28.  15-18). 

What  the  prophet  visualized  in  his  imagination  as 
the  foundation  on  which  God  would  build  a  stable 
social  order  we  do  not  exactly  know.  It  was  possibly 
the  faithful  few  who  believed  in  God  and  righteousness 
as  the  sure  defense  of  the  nation  against  the  oncoming 
Assyrian  scourge,  and  who  therefore  opposed  the  policy 
of  entangling  themselves  with  a  treacherous  and  vile 
heathen  nation  like  Egypt.  This  righteous  remnant 
was,  of  course,  the  foundation  on  which,  after  the  com¬ 
ing  devastation,  God  would  build  for  the  future.  Pos¬ 
sibly  the  prophet  conceived  of  an  inspired  personality 
at  the  center  of  this  group.  But  whatever  picture  was 


Isaiah 


i  1 1 


before  his  imagination,  plainly  the  idea  is  that  a  foun¬ 
dation  solid  and  eternal,  and  everlastingly  righteous, 
should  be  established  in  Zion  for  God  to  build  his 
kingdom  upon.  And  we  know  that  in  a  unique  and 
perfect  degree  Jesus  fulfilled  this  prophecy,  and  the 
apostle  rightly  seizes  upon  the  words  of  Isaiah  as  a  most 
fortunate  and  happy  statement  of  the  function  of 
Messiah  in  the  world  for,  as  he  says,  the  church  is 
‘‘built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  proph¬ 
ets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  cornerstone.” 

THE  IDEAL  SOCIAL  ORDER 

(32-  i-5) 

Behold,  a  king  shall  reign  in  righteousness,  and 
princes  shall  rule  in  justice.  And  a  man  shall  be  as 
a  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert  from  the 
tempest,  as  streams  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  as  the 
shade  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land.  .  .  .  The 
fool  shall  be  no  more  called  noble,  nor  the  churl 
said  to  be  bountiful  (32.  1,  2,  5). 

Naturally  the  prophet  pictures  the  ideal  day  as  a 
monarchy,  for  that  was  the  only  kind  of  government 
he  knew.  But  surely  he  wonderfully  visualizes  the 
kingdom  of  God.  At  the  center,  as  we  have  seen  be¬ 
fore,  is  the  king,  but  around  him  are  the  princes.  It  is 
the  characteristic  of  the  ideal  king  that  he  enthrones 
th  ose  who  work  with  him.  In  the  book  of  Revelation 
round  about  the  throne  of  God  there  were  four  and 
twenty  thrones  (Revelations  4.  4). 

But  the  most  interesting  part  of  this  picture  in  Isaiah 


I  12 


Men  Unafraid 


is  not  the  king,  nor  the  princes,  but  the  ordinary  sub¬ 
jects.  Not  only  shall  a  king  reign  in  righteousness  and 
princes  rule  in  justice,  but  a  man — that  is,  any  man— 
“shall  be  as  a  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert 
from  the  tempest,  as  streams  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  as 
the  shade  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land.”  The  com¬ 
mon  man  will  be  a  refuge.  He  will  be  a  fountain  for 
thirsty  souls.  He  will  be  a  protection  from  the  dreadful 
heats  and  from  the  sand  storms  of  the  desert.  Here 
truly  is  a  marvelous  visualization  of  Jesus’  ideal  of  the 
“civilization  of  the  brotherly  man.” 

This  thought  of  the  wonderful  social  helpfulness  of 
the  ordinary  man  in  the  ideal  day  was  taken  up  by 
Jesus  in  his  words  about  John  the  Baptist,  “He  that  is 
but  little  in  the  kingdom  of  God  is  greater  than  he” 
(Luke  7.  28).  That  is  to  say,  in  the  perfect  social  order 
education  will  be  so  effective  and  the  conditions  so  in¬ 
spiring  that  the  commonest  man  will  develop  a  power 
and  a  helpfulness  that  is  greater  than  that  of  the 
geniuses  of  the  past,  just  as  to-day  any  cow  in  a  dairy¬ 
man’s  herd  is  better  than  the  prize-winner  at  the 
county  fair  a  hundred  years  back. 

Out  of  what  weariness  of  soul  comes  the  glad  hope 
of  that  dav  in  which  “the  eves  of  them  that  see  shall 

J  J 

not  be  dim,  and  the  ears  of  them  that  hear  shall 
hearken,”  and  “the  fool  shall  be  no  more  called  noble, 
nor  the  churl  (or  crafty  man)  said  to  be  bountiful!” 
It  is  Isaiah’s  longing  for  the  day  of  a  correct  public 
sentiment  when  all  things  will  be  called  by  their  right 
names,  and  no  pearls  will  be  cast  before  swine,  neither 
will  they  give  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs. 


Isaiah 


1 13 

As  the  background  to  this  prophecy  we  have  the 
vision  of  that  agricultural  prosperity  which  science  in 
time  will  doubtless  help  us  to  attain.  The  wilderness 
shall  become  a  fruitful  field,  and  the  fruitful  field  shall 
be  esteemed  as  a  forest  (32.  15).  That  is,  crops  will  be 
so  rank  and  luxuriant  that  they  will  seem  like  the 
growth  of  trees.  And  as  the  prophet  contemplates 
the  idyllic  scene  he  congratulates  the  dwellers  in  the 
new  day,  exclaiming,  “Blessed  are  ye  that  sow  beside 
all  waters,  that  send  forth  the  feet  of  the  ox  and  the 
ass”  (32.  20). 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

(Answers  to  questions  where  no  reference  is  given  can  be  found  in  the 

preceding  discussion) 

1.  What  three  unchallenged  wonders  do  you  find  in  the  Old 
Testament  prophecies  of  the  coming  of  Christ? 

2.  What  would  you  say  to  the  man  who  asserted  that  because 
Jesus  never  sat  on  a  literal  throne  in  Jerusalem  as  Isaiah  predicted  he 
cannot  be  said  to  have  fulfilled  Isaiah’s  prophecies  in  Chapter  9? 

3.  What  would  you  say  to  the  man  who  was  troubled  over  the 
fact  that  the  prophecies  we  are  accustomed  to  call  prophecies  of 
Christ  seem  to  expect  the  Deliverer  to  save  the  people  of  the  prophet’s 
own  generation  from  their  oppressors? 

4.  What  would  you  say  to  the  man  who  insisted  that  Isaiah 
cherished  false  hopes  for  himself  and  his  own  generation? 

5.  If  a  teacher  of  literature  should  say  of  one  of  his  students, 
In  ten  years  that  young  man  will  be  professor  of  English  literature  in 
one  of  our  great  universities;  and  after  ten  years  the  young  man 
should  still  be  in  obscurity,  but  in  twenty  years  he  would  have  written 
a  book  that  was  accepted  as  a  classic  throughout  the  land,  would  you 
say  that  his  teacher  had  uttered  a  true  prophecy? 

6.  When  Jesus  was  born  his  mother  gave  him  a  great  name  ex¬ 
pressing  her  faith  in  the  wonderful  thing  he  would  do  for  his  people, 
but  soon  the  folly  and  cruelty  of  Herod  made  her  and  the  child  home 
less  wanderers.  Do  you  find  any  expressions  in  Isaiah  7.  1-17  that  are 
parallel  to  this  experience  of  Mary? 


M  en  Unafraid 


i  14 

7.  Can  you  find  any  parallel  between  Isaiah  9.  3-7  and  the  song 
of  the  angels  in  Luke  2.  13,  1 4 ? 

8.  It  seemed  as  though  there  would  be  no  end  of  the  increase  of 
the  power  of  Tiglath-pileser  and  of  the  wars  that  he  stirred  up.  How 
does  the  prophet  Isaiah  contrast  the  coming  Messiah  with  him 
(9-  3-7)  ■ 

9.  What  parallel  do  you  find  between  the  plans  of  Messiah  in 
Matthew  28.  16-20  and  in  Isaiah  9.  3-7? 

10.  Can  you  see  any  likeness  between  the  insight  which  Jesus 
showed  when  he  said  that  the  poor  widow  had  cast  into  the  treasury 
more  than  the  rich  men  (Luke  21.  1-4)  and  the  qualities  which  are 
assigned  to  the  coming  Messiah  in  Isaiah  11.  1-5? 

11.  Jesus  came  announcing  a  blessing  upon  the  poor  and  the 
meek  (Matthew  5.  3-5).  Where  is  this  prophesied  in  Isaiah  11.  1-5? 

12.  If  a  man  should  object  to  the  prophecy  of  the  lion  eating 
straw  like  the  ox  (Isaiah  11.  7)  on  the  ground  that  his -alimentary 
canal  was  not  adapted  to  the  digestion  of  straw,  what  would  you  say? 

13.  What  likeness  do  you  notice  between  the  conclusion  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  Matthew  7.  24-27  and  Isaiah  28.  14-19? 

14.  What  correspondence  do  you  find  between  John  7.  38  and 
Isaiah  32.  1-5  ? 

15.  Jesus  said  (Luke  7.  28)  that  he  that  was  but  little  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  which  he  had  come  to  set  up,  was  greater  than  John 
the  Baptist.  In  what  words  in  Isaiah  32.  1-5  does  the  prophet  speak 
of  the  greatness  and  helpfulness  of  the  common  man? 

16.  What  other  resemblances  do  you  find  between  the  character 
of  Jesus  as  portrayed  in  the  Gospels  and  the  pictures  of  the  Christ  in 
Isaiah  9.  3-7 ;  11.  1-9,  and  32.  1-5? 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  OUTLOOK  OF 
HEBREW  PROPHECY 

Chapters  13-23 

Scholars  are  beginning  to  believe  that  the  book  of 
Isaiah  served  as  a  kind  of  treasury  for  preserving  not 
only  the  actual  words  of  the  prophet  himself,  but  also 
many  anonymous  prophecies  that  resembled  Isaiah  in 
their  inspired  and  majestic  tone.  Some  of  the  oracles 
or  “burdens”  in  Chapters  13-23  certainly  cannot  be 
ascribed  to  Isaiah.  The  prophecies  against  Babylon, 
for  instance  (13.  1  to  14.  27  and  21.  1-10),  would  not 
have  been  the  word  of  God  in  the  mouth  of  Isaiah,  for 
they  refer  to  a  nation  that  did  not  rise  to  be  a  menace 
to  Israel  for  nearly  a  century  after  his  death.  And  in 
defense  of  the  great,  sane,  practical  preacher  of  the 
eighth  century  we  must  insist  that  he  did  not  neglect 
his  task  of  proclaiming  the  needful  truth  for  his  own 
generation  in  order  to  write  an  oracle  on  a  subject  that 
would  be  of  no  interest  or  benefit  to  them.  But  al¬ 
though  the  authorship  of  the  oracles  on  the  foreign 
nations  may  be  diverse,  their  outlook  is  much  the  same, 
and  it  is  therefore  proper  to  treat  them  all  together  as 
representing  the  attitude  both  of  Isaiah  and  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets  in  general. 

To  the  general  reader  the  oracles  concerning  the  for¬ 
eign  nations  are  the  least  interesting  part  of  the  book  of 
Isaiah.  They  are  turbid,  and  full  of  ceaseless  predic¬ 
ts 


Men  Unafraid 


i  16 

tions  of  tempest  and  whirlwind  and  woe.  They  form  a 
very  jungle  of  prophecy.  One  of  the  reasons  for  their 
difficulty  to  the  modern  reader  is  their  journalistic 
character.  They  assume  a  knowledge  of  the  most 
recent  events.  They  are  like  editorials  addressed  to 
people  who  have  just  read  the  telegraphic  news  on  the 
front  page.  But  much  of  the  confusion  would  vanish, 
and  we  would  come  to  a  thrilled  appreciation  of  these 
oracles,  if  by  the  study  of  history  and  a  resolute  effort 
of  the  imagination  we  could  put  ourselves  back  into  the 
prophet’s  own  day. 

The  great  outstanding  fact  in  the  eighth  century, 
B.C.,  was  the  rise  of  Assyria  and  its  contest  with  Egypt 
for  the  lordship  of  the  earth.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
next  century  Assyria’s  place  in  the  conflict  with  Egypt 
was  taken  by  Babylon.  The  Hebrew  people  were 
simply  compelled  to  live  an  international  thought  life 
by  the  fact  that  they  feared  being  swallowed  up  by 
these  world-conquering  powers.  The  situation  was 
similar  to  that  in  America  during  the  World  War  when 
people  who  had  previously  given  no  thought  to  inter¬ 
national  affairs  were  suddenly,  by  the  necessities  of  the 
case,  drawn  out  into  an  eager  interest  in  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth. 

It  was  a  common  belief  in  those  early  days  that  a 
god’s  power  was  confined  to  the  territory  in  which  his 
people  lived.  Naaman,  after  being  healed  by  Elisha, 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  carry  home  from  Palestine  two 
mule  loads  of  earth  in  order  that  he  might  worship  the 
God  of  Israel  on  his  own  soil  (2  Kings  5.  17).  The  Jews, 
to  a  degree  at  least,  shared  this  idea.  When  David  was 


Isaiah 


JI7 

exiled  by  Saul  he  exclaimed,  “They  have  driven  me  out 
this  day  that  I  should  not  cleave  unto  the  inheritance  of 
Jehovah,  saying,  Go,  serve  other  gods”  (i  Samuel 
26.  19). 

The  masses  of  Israel  also,  to  some  extent,  shared  the 
thought  of  the  ancient  world  that  a  god,  like  a  bear 
fighting  for  her  whelps,  would  stand  up  for  his  people, 
right  or  wrong,  if  only  the  proper  sacrifices  were  not 
neglected,  and  they  believed  that  when  a  nation  was 
defeated  their  god  likewise  was  defeated  by  the  gods  of 
their  enemies.  To  the  people  in  general  the  devastating 
advance  of  such  a  military  genius  as  Tiglath-pileser  or 
Nebuchadnezzar  meant  that  Assyria  and  Babylon  had 
gods  of  great  power,  and  there  was  an  overwhelming 
impulse  to  import  images  of  these  gods  and  find  out  the 
rites  by  which  they  were  worshiped.  They  would 
justify  such  action  on  the  ground  of  self-defense,  and 
they  would  also  flatter  themselves,  doubtless,  that  they 
were  outgrowing  the  narrow-mindedness  of  their  fathers 
and  were  becoming  genuinely  cosmopolitan  in  their  in¬ 
tellectual  life. 

Isaiah  confronted  this  false  cosmopolitanism  with  the 
true  cosmopolitanism.  In  his  never-to-be-forgotten 
vision  he  had  learned  two  things  about  God:  first,  that 
he  was  holy;  and  second,  that  the  whole  earth  was  full 
of  his  glofy.  Hence  he  believed  that  Jehovah  could  not 
be  counted  on  to  fight  for  his  people  when  they  were 
wrong,  and  that  every  nation  was  a  sphere  in  which  God 
was  working  out  his  mighty  plans;  and  he  insisted  that 
the  armies  of  the  world  were  the  unconscious  instru¬ 
ments  of  Jehovah  who,  after  using  them  for  the  pun- 


1 1 8 


Men  Unafraid 


ishment  of  Israel,  would  in  turn  bring  them  also  to 
judgment  (io.  5-14). 

Faith  in  the  one  true  God  seemed  for  the  time  to 
hinge  upon  the  wisdom  and  courage  of  a  few  great 
prophets.  They  occupied  the  place  of  a  Foch  in  the 
World  War.  With  the  inspiration  of  great  strategists 
they  maintained  that  the  devastating  advance  of  these 
world  powers  upon  Jehovah’s  land  did  not  mean  that 
Jehovah  was  weak,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  was 
strong, — quick  to  unmask  the  hollow  mockery  of  Is¬ 
rael’s  insincere  worship,  and  mighty  to  punish  its  op¬ 
pression  of  the  poor.  When  the  people  began  to  think 
that  the  Assyrian  gods  were  as  great  as  Jehovah,  the 
prophets  insisted  that  Jehovah  himself  was  the  sole 
ruler  in  Assyria  and  Babylon,  as  well  as  in  Judah. 
Instead  of  building  vain  bulwarks  to  defend  their  nar¬ 
row  idea  of  Jehovah,  they  boldly  led  the  people  in 
thought  out  into  the  enemy’s  country  and  made  them 
see  there  the  operations  of  their  God.  This  enlarged 
conception  of  Jehovah  of  course  made  them  realize  that 
God  had  gracious  and  far-reaching  plans  for  all  the  na¬ 
tions  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  whole  world  did  not 
revolve  around  Judah.  The  change  in  religious  thought 
which  these  men  introduced  was  like  the  change  from 
the  Ptolemaic  system  that  made  the  earth  the  center 
of  the  universe,  to  the  Copernican  system  that  reduced 
it  to  one  of  the  planets  revolving  around  the  sun. 

The  wisdom  and  inspired  audacity  of  these  Hebrew 
prophets  break  upon  us  the  more  we  contemplate  them. 
Their  accomplishment  was  similar  to  that  of  those 
great  prophets  of  this  generation  when  the  faith  of  the 


Isaiah 


i  19 

church  seemed  in  danger  of  being  overthrown  by  the 
revelations  of  geologic  time,  the  immeasurable  reach 
of  the  evolutionary  process  and  the  disturbing  results  of 
the  historical  study  of  the  Bible.  The  modern  prophets, 
like  Isaiah,  instead  of  giving  way  to  panic  before  the 
threatening  foes,  contrived  to  make  men  see  in  them 
not  enemies  of  the  faith  but  witnesses  to  the  true  re¬ 
ligion.  They  harnessed  up  the  steeds  of  evolution  and 
historical  criticism  and  made  them  draw  the  gospel 
plow. 

The  oracles  threatening  judgment  upon  the  foreign 
nations  were  intended  primarily  for  the  encouragement 
of  Israel.  The  prophets  knew  that  the  people  could  not 
keep  alive  their  faith  in  Jehovah  unless  they  could  be¬ 
lieve  that  the  savage  powers  that  were  oppressing  them 
would  in  time  go  down.  To  say  that  Assyria  or  Baby¬ 
lon  would  be  punished  was  simply  another  way  of 
saying  that  God  was  righteous  and  merciful.  It  was 
just  the  same  kind  of  thing  that  we  have  to-day  in  the 
prophecies  of  the  overthrow  of  those  great  organiza¬ 
tions  of  predatory  greed  that  prey  upon  the  people. 

But  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  men  who 
wrote  these  oracles  had  no  purpose  beyond  the  benefit 
of  Israel.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  prophet  of 
Jehovah  without  a  missionary  impulse.  The  Spirit  of 
God  does  not  allow  of  provincialism.  And,  of  course, 
there  were  many  means  of  carrying  these  messages  to 
the  nations  with  whom  they  were  concerned.  Palestine 
was  on  the  great  caravan  route  between  Asia  and  Africa. 
The  nightly  bivouacs  of  these  caravans  would  form 
great  opportunities  for  the  prophets,  and  their  words 


120 


Men  Unafraid 


would  be  eagerly  heard.  And  all  the  more  so  when  it 
was  found  that  these  Jewish  seers  were  in  no  sense  nar¬ 
row  partisans  of  their  own  people,  but  were  preaching 
against  Israel  at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  The  historical 
books  are  full  of  suggestions  concerning  the  interna¬ 
tional  reputation  of  the  prophets.  We  have,  for  in¬ 
stance,  the  quaint  story  of  how  Ben-hadad  sent  an  army 
to  arrest  Elisha,  feeling  that  he  could  do  nothing 
against  Israel  as  long  as  the  king  had  the  benefit  of  the 
prophet’s  advice  (2  Kings  6.  8-14).  It  is  more  than 
possible  that  Isaiah  and  his  successors  would  have  a 
fame  that  reached  to  Babylon  and  Assyria  and  Egypt. 
The  man  of  truly  international  outlook  is  very  apt  to 
have  an  international  audience. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  of  the  critics  that  among  the 
oracles  against  foreign  nations  there  are  some  which  are 
pagan  in  tone  because  they  seem  to  gloat  over  the  sor¬ 
rows  of  Israel’s  enemies.  It  is  not  here  asserted  that 
they  manifest  the  fullness  of  Christ’s  compassion  for  all 
men,  but  we  ought  at  least  to  give  them  justice.  On 
Armistice  Day  we  all  made  merry  with  a  kind  of  wild 
ecstasy.  That  did  not  necessarily  mean  that  we  were 
gloating  over  the  humiliation  and  heartache  of  the  de¬ 
feated  Germans.  In  many  cases  it  was  simply  because 
our  minds  were  filled  with  the  glorious  thought  that 
the  much  desired  peace  had  come.  We  ought  not  to 
expect  a  Biblical  writer  to  see  and  feel  all  sides  of  reality 
at  once.  We  must  also  remember  that  some  of  these 
oracles  against  foreign  nations  are  singularly  full  of 
pity  over  the  woes  of  their  enemies.  Take,  for  instance, 
these  passages  from  the  oracle  against  Moab:  “My 


Isaiah 


I  2 1 


heart  crieth  out  for  Moab”  (15.  5).  “Therefore  I  will 
weep  with  the  weeping  of  Jazer  for  the  vine  of  Sibmah; 
I  will  water  thee  with  my  tears,  O  Heshbon,  and 
Elealeh”  (16.  9). 

There  is  a  passage  deemed  by  some  to  be  of  a  very 
late  date,  which  has  such  unique  breadth  and  charity 
of  world  view  that  it  ought  not  to  be  overlooked.  The 
prophet  says: 

In  that  day  shall  there  be  an  altar  to  Jehovah  in 
the  midst  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  a  pillar  at  the 
border  thereof  to  Jehovah.  .  .  .  And  Jehovah 

shall  be  known  to  Egypt,  and  the  Egyptians  shall 
know  Jehovah  in  that  day.  ...  In  that  day  shall 
there  be  a  highway  out  of  Egypt  to  Assyria,  and 
the  Assyrian  shall  come  into  Egypt,  and  the 
Egyptian  into  Assyria;  and  the  Egyptians  shall 
worship  with  the  Assyrians.  In  that  day  shall. 
Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and  with  Assyria; 
a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  earth:  for  that 
Jehovah  of  hosts  hath  blessed  them,  saying, 
Blessed  be  Egypt,  my  people,  and  Assyria  the 
work  of  my  hands,  and  Israel  mine  inheritance 
(19.  19-25). 

Here  is  a  broad  and  kindly  internationalism  im¬ 
measurably  ahead  of  that  which  obtains  in  the  Chris¬ 
tian  nations  of  the  world  to-day.  To  come  upon  this 
phenomenon  of  a  man  many  centuries  before  Christ, 
living  the  intellectual  life  of  a  true  world  citizen,  is  of 
itself  a  sufficient  reward  for  going  through  these  diffi¬ 
cult  and  sombre  oracles  on  the  foreign  nations.  The 


122 


Men  Unafraid 


discovery  is  somewhat  humbling  to  the  modern  man, 
for  he  has  been  disposed  to  think  that  the  cosmopolitan 
is  a  product  of  our  own  times.  How  can  we  explain  this 
breadth  of  view  other  than  by  the  time-honored  faith 
of  the  church  that  the  prophets  were  inspired  by  Al¬ 
mighty  God? 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

(Answers  to  questions  where  no  reference  is  given  can  he  found  in  the 

preceding  discussion) 

1.  Concerning  what  nations  do  we  find  oracles  in  Isaiah  13-23? 
Locate  them,  as  far  as  possible,  on  the  map. 

2.  Does  it  make  Isaiah  less  of  a  prophet  to  suggest  that  the 
oracles  against  Babylon  (13.  1  to  14.  27  and  21.  i-ic)  were  written 
by  some  later  seer  when  such  oracles  were  needed  to  comfort  the 
people  who  were  suffering  under  its  oppression?  Would  you  respect 
a  preacher  of  to-day  who,  instead  of  serving  the  men  of  his  generation, 
would  take  time  to  write  sermons  meaningless  to  his  own  people,  but 
applicable  to  conditions  that  are  to  arise  two  centuries  hence? 

3.  What  nation’s  ambitious  designs  constituted  the  most  ar¬ 
resting  fact  on  the  political  horizon  in  Isaiah’s  day? 

4.  What  narrow  and  false  ideas  of  Jehovah  was  it  necessary  for 
the  prophets  to  correct  before  they  could  keep  the  faith  of  Israel 
alive  in  the  face  of  the  conquering  power  of  a  pagan  nation? 

5.  In  what  words  does  Isaiah,  in  Chapter  10,  say  that  Assyria 
is  the  instrument  of  God  for  the  punishment  of  Israel? 

6.  In  what  words  in  Chapter  10  does  the  prophet  say  that  the 
Assyrian,  instead  of  regarding  himself  as  the  instrument  of  Jehovah, 
was  boasting  that  by  his  own  strength  and  by  his  own  might  he  had 
conquered? 

7.  Where  in  Chapter  10  does  the  prophet  say  that  the  boasting 
Assyrian,  after  Jehovah  has  used  him  to  discipline  Israel,  will  in  turn 
be  punished  for  his  pride? 

8.  According  to  Isaiah  13  to  23,  is  the  outlook  for  the  surrounding 
nations  gloomy  or  cheerful?  How  does  it  compare  in  this  respect 
with  that  of  Amos  1.  1  to  2.  3? 

9.  Why,  in  your  opinion,  did  Isaiah  write  these  oracles  of  doom 
on  the  neighboring  nations?  for  the  sake  of  Judah  or  for  the  sake  of 
the  nations,  or  for  both? 


Isaiah 


I23 


10.  What  good  did  the  prophet  hope  to  bring  about  by  a  warning 
of  doom? 

11.  Suppose  all  the  nations  had  repented  and  the  doom  had  not 
come,  would  that,  in  your  opinion,  prove  that  Isaiah  was  a  good 
prophet  or  a  poor  one? 

12.  Where  do  we  find  in  Chapter  19  a  prophecy  of  international 
co-operation  and  good  fellowship  that  shows  a  marvelous  freedom 
from  the  ancient  race  hatreds  and  prejudices? 

13.  Where  in  Chapter  19  do  you  find  a  verse  that  reminds  you  of 
Amos’  insistence  (9.  7)  that  God  had  been  the  Father  of  the  Philistines 
and  of  the  Syrians  just  as  he  had  been  the  Father  of  Israel? 

14.  How  does  Jesus  by  example  and  precept  fulfill  and  develop 
the  cosmopolitan  spirit  of  the  prophets?  Among  many  instances  see, 
for  example,  Matthew  5.  13-16;  8.  10,  11;  25.  31-46;  and  especially 
28.  16-20. 

15.  Isaiah  had  his  burden  of  Egypt,  Moab,  Ammon,  Philistia, 
etc.  On  the  present  conditions  and  future  destiny  of  what  countries 
would  a  prophet  to  our  own  land  especially  need  to  have  inspired 
convictions?  (The  answer  to  this  question  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of 
your  own  opinion.) 

16.  Do  you  think  a  prophet  of  to-day  could  know  the  future  of 
his  own  land  unless  he  also  understood  the  conditions  and  tendencies 
in  surrounding  nations?  Why? 

17.  What,  in  your  opinion,  would  a  modern  prophet  have  to  do 
in  order  to  have  God’s  mind  as  to  the  conditions,  tendencies,  and 
probable  destiny  of  the  great  countries  whose  future  is  most  linked 
up  with  his  own? 


THE  INVASION  OF  SENNACHERIB 

Chapters  22,  33,  36,  37  (701  B.  C.) 

As  at  the  beginning  of  Isaiah’s  career,  the  threatening 
power  of  Assyria  continued  to  be  the  principal  feature 
in  the  political  horizon  down  to  the  end  of  the  century. 
Isaiah  had  been  vehemently  opposed  to  the  making  of  a 
league  with  Assyria  whereby  Judah  promised  tribute 
for  protection  against  Israel  and  Damascus.  But  when 
once  the  league  was  entered  into  he  insisted  that  it 
should  be  maintained.  He  had  said  to  the  nation,  Do 
not  put  your  head  into  the  Assyrian  noose.  But  when 
they  had  made  the  alliance  he  said,  Do  not  pull  on  the 
halter  or  you  will  be  choked  by  it. 

Ahaz  died,  bequeathing  to  his  son  Hezekiah  the 
bitter  yoke  of  Assyrian  vassalage.  When  the  tribute 
demanded  became  so  heavy  as  to  be  almost  unbearable 
there  was  always  a  party  urging  revolution  and  a  league 
with  Egypt.  And  constantly  Egyptian  emissaries, 
jealous  of  Assyria’s  overweening  power,  were  seeking 
to  induce  the  young  king  to  throw  off  the  Assyrian  yoke 
and  cast  his  lot  in  with  them.  The  situation  was  some¬ 
what  like  that  which  existed  in  Korean  politics  before 
the  Russo-Japanese  War  when  the  one  problem  was 
whether  it  was  safer  to  listen  to  the  Russian  ambassa¬ 
dors  or  to  the  Japanese. 

It  now  became  Isaiah’s  duty  to  stand  firm  against 
this  Egyptian  alliance.  It  must  have  been  very  diffi¬ 
cult  for  him  to  set  himself  against  the  tide  of  patriotism 

124 


Isaiah 


I25 


which  swayed  the  hearts  of  his  fellow  countrymen. 
But  he  was  an  old  man  now,  and  accustomed  to  con¬ 
tend  against  prevailing  tendencies.  His  character  had 
been  vitrified  in  a  heroic  mold  by  the  fires  of  persecu¬ 
tion.  And  so  we  read: 

Woe  to  the  rebellious  children,  saith  Jehovah, 
that  take  counsel,  but  not  of  me;  and  that  make  a 
league,  but  not  of  my  Spirit,  that  they  may  add  sin 
to  sin;  that  set  out  to  go  down  into  Egypt,  and 
have  not  asked  at  my  mouth;  to  strengthen  them¬ 
selves  in  the  strength  of  Pharaoh,  and  to  take 
refuge  in  the  shadow  of  Egypt!  Therefore  shall  the 
strength  of  Pharaoh  be  your  shame,  and  the  refuge 
in  the  shadow  of  Egypt  your  confusion  (30.  1-3). 

The  prophet’s  opposition  to  a  league  with  Egypt  was 
based  upon  several  grounds.  In  the  first  place  he  knew 
that  Assyria  would  be  infuriated  by  the  news  of  a  league 
between  Judah  and  Egypt  and  that,  whereas  she  might 
otherwise  have  let  Judah  alone,  she  would  then  at  once 
prepare  to  march  upon  her.  Buzzard  wings  are  a  poor 
shelter,  it  is  true — he  said,  in  essence — but  once  being 
there,  keep  the  buzzard  in  a  good  humor  if  you  can. 

Again,  the  prophet  opposed  this  alliance  on  the 
ground  of  the  untrustworthiness  of  Egypt.  He  knew 
that  she  was  a  bragging  nation,  making  many  promises 
that  she  was  unable  to  keep,  a  reed  that  would  pierce 
their  hands  if  they  tried  to  lean  upon  it.  A  conspiracy 
with  Egypt,  he  insisted,  was  a  covenant  with  death  and 
an  agreement  with  Sheol  (28.  t8). 

He  knew,  too,  that  while  Egypt  was  too  weak  to 


126 


Men  Unafraid 


deliver  them  from  Assyria,  she  was  strong  enough  to 
corrupt  Judah.  And  the  prophets  always  opposed  an 
alliance  with  heathen  powers  on  account  of  the  serious 
moral  compromises  that  would  be  inevitable.  They 
warned  the  people  against  uniting  with  other  evil  forces 
that  proposed  to  deliver  them  from  the  evil  forces  that 
were  threatening  them.  It  was  as  though  the  opponents 
of  child  labor  were  to  make  an  alliance  with  the  liquor 
power  to  secure  good  legislation. 

Isaiah  deemed  this  league  a  practical  admission  by 
Judah  that  the  power  of  Jehovah  was  not  sufficient  to 
protect  his  people.  But  he  himself  believed  that  the 
inspiration  and  the  courage  that  they  would  derive 
from  their  superior  conception  of  Jehovah  would  make 
them  difficult  to  conquer,  and  that  if  they  obeyed  God’s 
laws  the  surrounding  people  would  have  no  motive  for 
trying  to  conquer  them.  And  so  he  kept  saying  in  vary¬ 
ing  form  his  life-long  message.  “In  returning  and  in  rest 
shall  ye  be  saved;  in  quietness  and  in  confidence  shall  be 
your  strength’’  (30.  1 5).  “Trust  ye  in  Jehovah  forever; 
for  in  Jehovah,  even  Jehovah,  is  an  everlasting  rock” 
(26.  4).  The  prophet  would  have  the  people  look  up 
with  him  to  Jehovah,  and  say  in  faith,  “Thou  wilt  keep 
him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee; 
because  he  trusteth  in  thee”  (26.  3).  This  exhortation 
to  be  quiet  was  not  at  that  time,  of  course,  an  exhorta¬ 
tion  to  do  the  easy  thing.  Isaiah  was  not  an  apostle 
of  the  easy  chair.  On  the  contrary,  to  resist  the  panic 
of  terror,  and  to  trust  God,  required  the  strongest  pos¬ 
sible  putting  forth  of  will  power. 

The  prophet’s  message  at  this  time  seems  to  have 


]  SAIAH 


127 


been  very  distasteful  to  the  people.  They  were  wearied 
by  the  everlasting  repetition  of  such  “Sunday-school 
politics.”  “Whom  will  he  teach  knowledge?”  say  they; 
“and  whom  will  he  make  to  understand  the  message? 
them  that  are  weaned  from  the  milk,  and  drawn  from 
the  breasts?  For  it  is  precept  upon  precept,  precept 
upon  precept;  line  upon  line,  line  upon  line;  here  a  little, 
there  a  little”  (2*8.  9,  10).  Isaiah’s  turning  of  their 
words  is  peculiarly  vivid.  He  says,  You  are  tired  of  my 
simple,  plain  words?  You  say  that  I  treat  you  like 
children?  Well,  God  will  give  you  a  change.  “By  men 
of  strange  lips  and  with  another  tongue  will  he  speak  to 
this  people,”  and  the  lips  will  speak  the  curses  of  a 
savage  conqueror.  You  are  tired  of  the  monotony  of 
God’s  gracious  warnings?  You  shall  have  a  change, 
but  it  will  be  the  monotony  of  his  judgments,  a  weary 
monotone  of  suffering  and  woe. 

The  death  of  the  Assyrian  monarch  Sargon,  in  70^, 
and  the  accession  of  Sennacherib,  afforded  a  good  op¬ 
portunity  to  rebel.  This  movement  was  encouraged 
by  the  fact  that  at  this  time  the  great  Ethiopian 
Tirhakah  was  coming  into  power  and  manifesting  a 
vigor  that  soon  made  him  lord  of  Egypt  and  an  ag¬ 
gressive  contestant  for  domination  in  the  world’s 
politics. 

Accordingly  Philistia,  Edom,  Moab,  and  Judah 
formed  an  alliance,  and  declared  their  independence. 
Judah,  doubtless  owing  to  the  superior  ability  of  its 
king,  and  perhaps  as  an  added  inducement  to  make  it 
join  the  conspiracy,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  con¬ 
federation.  No  doubt  it  seemed  a  very  patriotic  thing 


128 


Men  Unafraid 


to  do,  and  enthusiasm  ran  high.  The  plan  seemed  es¬ 
pecially  wise  in  view  of  the  fact  that  at  this  time 
Merodach-baladan,  king  of  Babylon,  also  rebelled 
against  Assyria,  and  gave  serious  trouble  to  Sen¬ 
nacherib.  He  had  doubtless  had  a  part  in  encouraging 
the  insurrection  of  Judah.  We  read  that  he  sent  an 
embassy  to  congratulate  Hezekiah  on  his  recovery 
from  sickness  (Chapter  39),  and  this  very  act  was 
probably  inspired  by  a  covert  purpose  to  suggest  the 
rebellion. 

The  prophet’s  forebodings  were  all  too  quickly 
realized.  In  701  Sennacherib,  having  already  subdued 
Babylon,  marched  west  and  conquered  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  and  then,  taking  the  route  that  lay  along  the 
plain  skirting  the  Mediterranean,  he  went  south  in¬ 
tending  to  reduce  the  cities  of  Philistia,  Ashkelon,  and 
Ekron,  and  finally  Jerusalem.  We  have  the  record  of 
the  journey  from  one  of  Sennacherib’s  own  inscriptions. 
He  tells  us  that  the  Egyptians  came  out  with  Philistia 
in  numbers  innumerable,  but  he  soon  brought  them 
low  and  thus  Ekron  and  Ashkelon  were  left  to  his 
mercy. 

After  this  Sennacherib,  who  doubtless  realized  how 
difficult  it  would  be  to  take  Jerusalem,  set  about  the 
destruction  of  all  the  smaller  fortified  towns  of  Judah. 
He  tells  us  that  he  laid  forty-six  of  them  low.  And 
with  the  cities  he  devastated  the  vineyards  and  the 
olive  groves  and  all  the  beauty  of  the  land.  Men  were 
compelled  to  live  upon  curds  made  from  the  milk  of  the 
few  sheep  and  cows  that  had  been  left  by  the  invaders, 
and  upon  the  wild  honey  which  they  found  in  the 


Isaiah 


129 


crevices  of  the  rocks.  Thus  was  fulfilled  the  word  of  the 
Lord  spoken  by  Isaiah  thirty  or  more  years  before: 
“In  that  day  will  the  Lord  shave  with  a  razor  that  is 
hired  in  the  parts  beyond  the  river,  even  with  the  king 
of  Assyria,  the  head  and  the  hair  of  the  feet;  and  it 
shall  also  consume  the  beard”  (7.  20). 

One  feels  impelled  to  stop  here,  leaving  the  fright¬ 
ened  people  of  Jerusalem  and  its  king  shut  up,  as  Sen¬ 
nacherib  says  in  his  own  inscription,  “like  a  bird  in  a 
cage,”  and  contemplate  for  a  moment  this  remarkable 
fulfillment  of  the  prophet’s  previous  predictions  (7.  18- 
20;  8.  5-8).  Isaiah,  who  had  been  the  object  of  ridicule 
for  a  lifetime,  was  at  length  vindicated.  The  Assyrian 
had  come!  True,  he  had  not  come  quite  so  soon  as  the 
prophet  expected,  nor  by  the  exact  route  that  he  had 
pictured,  but  he  had  come.  The  logic  of  events  had 
proven  the  divine  wisdom  of  Isaiah’s  predictions. 

After  the  land  had  been  devastated  and  the  “daugh¬ 
ter  of  Zion  was  left  as  a  booth  in  a  vineyard,  as  a  lodge 
in  a  garden  of  cucumbers,  as  a  besieged  city”  (1.  7,  8), 
the  king  of  Assyria  sent  his  Rabshakeh,  or  commander- 
in-chief,  to  Jerusalem  to  demand  its  surrender.  How 
terrifying  this  event  must  have  been  we  can  hardly 
imagine.  It  was  as  though  the  entire  British  fleet 
should  some  morning  heave  in  sight  before  the  harbor  of 
Havana  and  demand  its  surrender.  The  Assyrians  had 
laid  Samaria  in  ruins,  and  all  the  cities  of  that  portion 
of  the  world  had  fallen  under  the  might  of  Sennacherib. 
No  wonder  Hezekiah  rent  his  clothes  and  covered  him¬ 
self  with  sackcloth. 

Rabshakeh  came  and  stood  by  the  conduit  of  the 


130 


Men  Unafraid 


upper  pool  in  the  highway  of  the  fuller’s  field,  the  very 
place  where  years  before  Isaiah  had  been  sent  to  warn 
Ahaz  of  his  coming.  But  the  prophet  no  longer  needs 
to  follow  the  king  about  like  a  suppliant.  His  life  of 
heroic  ministry  and  the  fulfillment  of  his  predictions 
have  made  a  throne  for  him.  The  sovereign  now  seeks 
the  prophet.  Hezekiah  at  once  sends  a  deputation  to 
Isaiah,  asking  him  not  for  a  prediction,  but  for  a  prayer. 
He  trusts  that  the  man  of  God  may  turn  away  the 
anger  of  Jehovah  and  persuade  him  to  mercy. 

We  now  see  the  phenomenon  which  is  so  often  ap¬ 
parent  in  the  whole  course  of  Hebrew  prophecy.  The 
seers  during  all  the  time  of  self-confidence  and  security 
threaten  doom;  but  when  the  stroke  falls  they  change 
their  tone  and  become  angels  of  consolation.  And  so 
Isaiah,  instead  of  rebuking  the  king,  sends  back  a  taunt 
song  against  Assyria: 

The  virgin  daughter  of  Zion  hath  despised  thee 
and  laughed  thee  to  scorn;  the  daughter  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem  hath  shaken  her  head  at  thee.  Whom  hast 
thou  defied  and  blasphemed?  and  against  whom 
hast  thou  exalted  thy  voice  and  lifted  up  thine  eyes 
on  high  ?  even  against  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  .  .  . 
Because  of  thy  raging  against  me,  and  because 
thine  arrogancy  is  come  up  into  mine  ears,  there¬ 
fore  will  I  put  my  hook  in  thy  nose,  and  my  bridle 
in  thy  lips,  and  I  will  turn  thee  back  by  the  way 
by  which  thou  earnest  (37.  22,  23,  29). 

The  Assyrian  records  confirm  the  sudden  turning 
back  of  Sennacherib.  Whether  it  was  a  great  pestilence 


Isaiah 


131 

that  suddenly  smote  his  army — a  very  natural  thing  in 
view  of  their  recent  contact  with  the  Egyptians  where 
pestilence  was  always  rife  (Amos  4.  10) — or  whether 
Sennacherib  heard  a  disquieting  rumor,  as  seems  to  be 
predicted  in  Isaiah’s  own  words,  or  both,  we  do  not 
know.  But  at  any  rate  Isaiah’s  words  were  fulfilled  in  a 
most  dramatic  fashion.  Some  mysterious  cause  moved 
Sennacherib  to  raise  the  siege,  and  Israel  was  saved. 
Doubtless  this  was  no  greater  fulfillment  than  was  the 
slow  and  more  commonplace  accomplishment  of  his 
words  in  other  instances,  but  the  people  are  more  im¬ 
pressed  by  such  sudden  and  dramatic  occurrences. 

In  his  vision  Isaiah  had  heard  the  Lord  saying,  “Go, 
and  .  .  .  make  the  heart  of  this  people  fat,  and  make 
their  ears  heavy,  and  shut  their  eyes.”  And  so  it  had 
come  to  pass.  His  warning  to  Ahaz  was  a  failure,  and 
yet  when  his  prophecy  was  at  length  fulfilled  we  see 
that  really  the  efforts  of  the  prophet  had  not  failed 
after  all,  for  in  their  darkness  the  people  turned  to  the 
old  seer  whose  words  have  been  so  signally  vindicated. 
So  it  is  always  with  the  man  who  has  God’s  message, 
but  who  finds  the  people  rebellious  and  unwilling  to 
hear.  When  the  unheeded  warning  has  its  dread  ful¬ 
fillment  they  turn  to  him  as  a  true  prophet,  and  recog¬ 
nize  his  words  as  a  message  from  Jehovah. 

And  thus  the  long  life  of  the  great  seer  had  its  fitting 
climax.  He  now  disappears  from  view.  But  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  his  words  in  the  light  of  their  signal  vindication 
in  history  was  only  just  beginning. 


132 


Men  Unafraid 


Isaiah’s  Political  Policy  Illustrated  by  Modern 

Analogies 

One  of  the  tasks  of  the  interpreter  of  prophecy  is  to 
point  out  the  modern  analogies  to  the  conditions  which 
the  prophets  faced.  It  is  doubtful  whether  anyone  can 
feel  the  thrill  and  the  glow  of  Isaiah’s  great  message 
who  does  not  see  in  Assyria  and  Egypt  the  symbols 
of  great  rival  powers  that  threaten  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  his  own  day. 

It  may  be  well  to  say,  in  the  first  place,  that  there 
is  in  every  age  not  only  an  Assyria,  but  also  at  the  same 
time  an  Egypt.  The  church,  for  instance,  in  defend¬ 
ing  itself  from  one  enemy  of  righteousness,  is  con¬ 
tinually  tempted  to  flee  into  the  arms  of  another  enemy 
just  as  dangerous. 

The  Assyria  that  threatens  to  overrun  us  to-day  con¬ 
sists  of  that  ominous  multitude  of  economic,  social,  and 
religious  radicals  who,  with  no  eyes  for  the  values  in¬ 
herent  in  our  present  social  order  and  with  keen  eyes 
for  its  glaring  defects,  seek  in  the  name  of  progress  to 
destroy  it  all.  It  consists  of  the  Lenines  and  Trotskys 
who  would  violently  dispossess  the  farmer  and  the  mill 
owner  and  turn  their  property  over  to  the  Soviet,  the 
religious  radicals  who  would  burn  our  Bible  as  an  out¬ 
grown  superstition  and  make  a  mockery  of  our  divine 
Christ,  and  the  social  radicals  who  would  open  up  a 
window  in  our  courthouses  where  divorces  would  be  as 
accessible  as  postage  stamps. 

And  what,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  Egypt  of  to-day 
to  which  we  are  prone  to  fly  for  refuge  from  these  bomb¬ 
throwing  enemies  of  our  settled  order?  The  Egypt  of 


Isaiah 


'33 


to-day  is  the  reactionary  conservatism  that  in  its  eager¬ 
ness  to  hold  to  the  good  in  our  present  institutions  holds 
to  all  the  bad.  It  is  the  big  business  that  in  order  to  in¬ 
crease  its  earnings  treats  its  employees  like  machines 
and  seeks  to  stifle  public  protest  by  muzzling  free 
speech,  by  lying  propaganda  in  the  newspapers,  and  by 
ostentatious  gifts  to  charity.  It  is  the  religious  con¬ 
servatism  that  gives  the  name  of  infidel  to  every  man 
who  dares  to  think  progresssively.  It  is  the  social  con¬ 
servatism  that  calls  every  reformer  a  Bolshevist. 

Between  these  two  is  our  modern  Israel  that  is  sup¬ 
posed,  on  the  one  hand,  to  stand  for  the  sacred  inherit¬ 
ance  that  has  come  to  us  from  the  past  and,  on  the 
other,  to  have  the  eager  progressive  mind  of  Jesus. 
Israel  is  afraid  of  radical  Assyria.  Conservative  Egypt, 
too,  is  in  abject  terror  of  it.  It  has  a  guilty  conscience 
and  has  good  reason  to  be  afraid  of  its  dynamite.  And 
so  Egypt  pleads  for  a  defensive  alliance  with  Israel. 
It  promises  to  endow  our  colleges,  build  our  churches, 
and  fill  our  mission  treasuries,  if  only  we  keep  silent  on 
the  social  gospel  and  never  hurt  its  feelings  by  exposing 
the  wrongs  of  the  workingman.  It  covers  up  its  greed 
by  calling  unctuously  for  the  “old-time  religion”  and 
“the  simple  gospel.” 

And  how  often,  alas,  does  Israel  yield  to  temptation 
and  seek  Egyptian  money  in  order  to  convert  Assyria. 
But  as  soon  as  the  radicals  see  that  the  church  has 
compromised  with  predatory  wealth  they  become  ten¬ 
fold  more  dangerous.  They  stop  their  ears  to  its  elo¬ 
quent  preachers,  despise  its  missions,  and  make  it  a 
very  religion  to  fight  religion. 


:34 


Men  Unafraid 


Thus  to-day,  as  in  every  age,  the  church  needs  an 
Isaiah  who  will  insist  that  the  only  safety  comes 
through  that  calm  faith  in  God  that  holds  sacredly 
every  precious  inheritance  that  has  come  from  the  past, 
but  dares  to  think  fearlessly  on  every  subject,  and  to 
fight  bravely  for  the  application  of  the  law  of  love  to 
all  our  economic  and  social  relations. 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

1.  The  people  became  tired  of  Isaiah’s  everlasting  warnings 
against  a  league  with  Egypt  against  Assyria,  and  they  asked  him  with 
irritation  whether  he  repeated  himself  so  often  because  he  thought 
they  had  the  minds  of  infants.  Find  the  place  in  Chapter  28. 

2.  Isaiah  by  a  swift  turn  said  to  the  people,  If  you  are  tired  of 
my  simplicity  and  plainness,  God  will  give  you  a  change.  Find  the 
place  in  Chapter  28  where  the  prophet  states  what  this  change  will  be. 

3.  Judah,  with  underhanded  and  lying  diplomacy,  had  been 
making  a  league  with  Egypt  while  all  the  time  pretending  to  be  loyal 
to  Assyria.  They  probably  called  it  a  covenant  for  the  securing  of 
national  life  and  liberty.  In  Chapter  28  the  prophet  calls  it  a  cove¬ 
nant  with  what? 

4.  Where  in  Chapters  28  and  29  does  the  prophet  suggest  that 
the  only  foundation  for  national  prosperity  is  justice  and  square 
dealing,  and  that  everything  else  is  doomed  to  destruction? 

5.  In  opposing  the  alliance  with  Assyria  against  northern 
Israel  and  Damascus  the  prophet  had  said,  “Take  heed  and  be 
quiet”  (7.  4).  Where  in  Chapter  30,  in  opposing  an  alliance  with 
Egypt  against  Assyria,  does  he  in  different  words  repeat  the  same 
message  ? 

6.  The  people,  instead  of  being  quiet  and  confident  in  the  Lord, 
said,  “No,  but  we  will  flee  upon  horses.”  By  what  strong  and  pic¬ 
turesque  retort  does  Isaiah,  in  Chapter  30,  turn  their  own  words 
upon  them? 

7.  Isaiah  at  this  time  seemed  to  have  a  constant  succession  of 
apparently  contradictory  visions,  now  of  great  calamity  and  now  of 
sudden  and  wonderful  victory.  Find  in  Chapter  29  illustrations  of 
this  sudden  changing  of  scene  from  dark  to  bright,  and  from  bright 
to  dark.  This  constant  shifting  in  the  prophet’s  mind  between 


Isaiah 


J35 


visions  of  coming  darkness  and  coming  light  must  have  been  very 
perplexing  to  him.  But  what  of  the  outcome?  Was  the  invasion  of 
Sennacherib,  with  its  sudden  withdrawal,  a  fulfillment  of  these  con¬ 
tradictory  premonitions? 

8.  What  is  the  date  of  the  invasion  of  Sennacherib?  How  many 
years  had  elapsed  since  Isaiah  in  735  had  prophesied  that  if  they  put 
their  trust  in  the  Assyrian  he  would  end  by  invading  their  country? 
(See  preceding  discussion.) 

9.  Find  in  Isaiah  8  a  prophecy  uttered  many  years  before  which 
was  fulfilled  in  this  destructive  and  terrible  invasion  of  the  Assyrians. 

10.  The  Assyrian  commander  stood  by  the  conduit  of  the  upper 
pool  in  the  highway  of  the  fuller’s  field  (36.  2).  Who  previously  had 
stood  there,  and  on  what  occasion  ?  See  Chapter  7. 

11.  Does  the  speech  of  the  Assyrian  commander  in  Chapter  36 
strike  you  as  shrewd,  or  otherwise?  What  parts  of  it  are  especially 
effective? 

12.  In  Chapter  7  Isaiah  went  beseechingly  to  the  king.  How  are 
the  tables  turned  in  Chapter  37? 

13.  Under  the  circumstances  of  extreme  danger  and  apparently 
utter  helplessness  in  the  hands  of  the  Assyrians,  was  Isaiah’s  oracle 
of  aggressive  defiance  (37.  22-29)  mere  boasting  or  a  supreme  illus¬ 
tration  of  faith  in  God? 

1 4.  As  you  study  Chapter  37  what  do  you  find  in  the  attitude  of 
the  king,  the  prophet,  and  his  group  of  loyal  followers,  that  made  it 
possible  for  God  at  this  time  to  deliver  Jerusalem  from  destruction  at 
the  hands  of  the  apparently  irresistible  power  of  the  Assyrians? 

1^.  What  enemies  of  modern  Christianity,  in  your  opinion, 
might  aptly  be  symbolized  by  Assyria  and  Egypt? 


THE  HERALD  OF  THE  RESTORATION 


/ 


THE  YOSEMITE  VALLEY  OF  THE  OLD 

TESTAMENT 

(Isaiah  40-66) 

Literary  Characteristics  of  the  Book 

When  one  passes  from  the  study  of  the  three  great 
prophets  of  the  eighth  century,  B.C.,  into  Isaiah  40-66, 
it  is  like  the  experience  of  a  traveler  who  has  gone  to  bed 
amid  the  wintry  majesties  of  the  western  mountains; 
but  when  he  raises  the  curtain  of  his  car  in  the  morning 
he  looks  out  upon  the  orange  groves  of  California  and 
breathes  an  air  laden  with  the  perfume  of  flowers. 
Amos,  Hosea,  and  Isaiah,  while  containing  many  flashes 
of  hope  and  sunlight,  are  predominantly  severe  in  tone. 
There  is  at  times  something  terrible  about  them.  But 
while  there  are  some  stern  passages  in  Isaiah  40-66,  the 
Prophet  of  the  Exile  has  given  us,  for  the  most  part, 
one  long  spring  morning  full  of  sunshine  and  joy.  We 
have  in  him  a  great  renaissance  of  faith,  and  a  hope 
which  shoots  up  like  a  geyser.  He  illustrates  the  truth 
laid  down  by  the  apostle:  “All  chastening  seemeth  for 
the  present  to  be  not  joyous  but  grievous;  yet  after¬ 
ward  it  yieldeth  peaceable  fruit  unto  them  that  have 
been  exercised  thereby,  even  the  fruit  of  righteousness” 
(Hebrews  12.  11).  Here  is  a  garden  of  the  peaceable 
fruits  that  carrfe  from  the  chastening  of  the  exile. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  gladdest  of  all  the  prophe¬ 
cies  has  sprung  out  of  the  saddest  of  all  the  experiences 

*39 


140 


Men  Unafraid 


of  Israel  as  a  nation,  the  Babylonian  exile.  It  is  paral¬ 
leled  by  the  fact  that  the  most  comforting  of  all  the 
words  of  Jesus,  the  great  passage  in  John  14  beginning, 
“Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,”  were  spoken  under 
the  shadow  of  Gethsemane  and  the  cross.  But  with 
all  its  springtime  beauty  and  all  its  tender  comfort, 
there  is  an  impressive  majesty  about  this  prophecy. 
It  may  very  well  be  called  the  Yosemite  Valley  of  the 
Old  Testament. 

The  book  is  very  difficult  to  divide  into  sections. 
Its  central  ideas  are  simple  and  clear,  but  they  per¬ 
petually  return  upon  themselves.  It  is  like  a  piece  of 
music  with  ever-recurring  refrains.  The  prophet  looks 
up  toward  the  heavens  and  rejoices  in  the  mighty  saving 
power  of  Jehovah;  he  looks  at  the  Suffering  Servant  of 
Jehovah  and  proclaims  his  coming  dominion  over  the 
world;  he  glances  at  Cyrus,  the  rising  Median  con¬ 
queror  in  the  east,  and  hails  him  as  the  arm  of  the  Lord; 
then  he  casts  a  dark  glance  at  Babylon  and  announces 
its  speedy  destruction.  These  ideas  in  differing  order 
constantly  recur  in  waves  of  poetry  welling  up  from  a 
spirit  stirred  by  one  of  the  tidal  movements  of  God. 

We  may  roughly  divide  the  prophecy  into  three  great 
sections:  40-48,  The  Announcement  of  the  Return;  49- 
^3,  The  Suffering  Servant;  ^4-66,  The  Ideal  Jerusalem. 
This  division  is  useful  as  suggesting  the  main  contents 
of  the  three  sections,  but  it  is  bv  no  means  inevitable. 

Authorship  f 

When  an  ancient  Hebrew  prophecy  bore  at  its  be¬ 
ginning  the  name  of  a  certain  seer,  and  for  various 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration  141 

good  reasons  material  from  other  sources  was  added,  it 
was  not  thought  necessary  to  mention  the  origin  of  this 
new  material.  Isaiah  37  to  39,  for  instance,  follows 
right  along  after  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  and  a  modern 
might  suppose  that  it  came  from  his  pen.  But  anyone 
can  see  by  looking  up  the  references  that  these  chapters 
were  taken  almost  bodily  from  2  Kings  18  to  20.  They 
were  added  by  someone  who  rightly  felt  that  the  his¬ 
torical  information  furnished  by  them  would  throw 
great  light  on  the  prophecy.  The  same  thing  has  hap¬ 
pened  in  the  case  of  Isaiah  40-66.  It  was  probably 
added  as  a  sequel  or  fulfillment  of  his  prophecies. 
Practically  all  scholars,  both  conservative  and  radical, 
agree  that  its  inspired  and  wonderful  messages  were 
written  during  and  after  the  exile. 

The  reasons  for  this  view  are  that  the  whole  back¬ 
ground  of  the  prophecy  is  exilic.  It  assumes  that  Israel 
is  now  in  Babylon.  It  calls  attention  to  the  rise  of 
Cyrus  as  a  fact  which  is  fulfilling  the  ancient  prophe¬ 
cies,  and  which  justifies  new  and  hopeful  predictions  of 
swift  deliverance.  The  moment  we  accept  the  view 
that  this  book  was  written  by  some  fellow  captive,  pale 
with  the  malaria  that  probably  afflicted  these  exiled 
mountaineers  in  the  fiat  and  marshy  country  of  Baby¬ 
lonia,  it  begins  to  have  a  human  appeal  that  it  could  not 
have  if  it  were  the  product  of  the  magic  clairvoyance  of 
a  man  who  had  never  felt  the  miseries  of  slavery  in  a 
foreign  land. 

And  surely,  as  we  have  suggested  before,  it  would  not 
add  to  the  credit  of  Isaiah  to  assume  that  he  turned 
aside  from  the  great  battle  in  the  eighth  century  in 


1^2 


M  en  Unafraid 


which  he  was  engaged,  to  write  a  prophecy  that  would 
have  been  poison  to  a  generation  already  too  easy  going 
and  optimistic,  but  which  was  especially  applicable  to 
situations  that  would  arise  two  centuries  hence.  No 
one  would  have  respected  General  Foch  if  it  had  been 
known  that  during  the  World  War  he  had  taken  time 
from  his  critical  task  to  outline  the  plan  of  campaign 
for  France  in  a  struggle  which  he  foresaw  she  would 
lace  in  two  hundred  years.  Everyone  would  know  that 
the  best  way  for  him  to  help  the  France  of  two  cen¬ 
turies  hence  would  be  to  do  his  immediate  task  in  such 
a  superb  and  heroic  fashion  that  men  for  all  time  to 
come  would  be  inspired  by  his  spirit. 

It  should  be  said,  in  conclusion,  that  when  the  mass 
of  modern  scholars  say  that  this  prophecy  of  the  return 
sprang  out  of  the  exile,  they  do  not  assert  that  the 
prophecy  was  written  after  the  event,  but  rather  that 
it  was  written  at  the  time  when  its  delivery  would  be  most 
effective  in  accomplishing  its  inspired  purpose. 


THE  ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  RETURN 

(Chapters  40-48) 

“Methinks  I  scent  the  morning  air.” — Hamlet 

We  must  picture  the  prophet  among  his  fellow  cap¬ 
tives  in  Babylon.  The  night  is  very  dark,  and  men  are 
saying,  Hath  God  forgotten?  “Will  the  Lord  cast  off 
for  ever?  and  will  he  be  favorable  no  more”  (Psalm 
77.  7)  ?  There  was  no  resource  but  prayer,  and  the 
reading  of  the  old  prophets.  They  were  far  away  from 
the  temple  where  they  could  go  through  the  forms  of 
sacrifice  and  worship.  They  were  shut  up  for  means  of 
grace  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  the  con¬ 
templation  of  the  glory  and  majesty  of  God  as  it  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  stars  which  they  would  have  time  to  con¬ 
template  after  their  day  of  drudgery  in  the  fields  of 
their  over-lords. 

But  as  they  mused  over  the  sombre  oracles  of  such 
men  as  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah,  and  re¬ 
flected  upon  the  wonderful  way  in  which  their  prophe¬ 
cies  of  doom  had  been  fulfilled,  they  would  have  a  re¬ 
doubled  sense  of  the  divine  authority  of  these  writings, 
and  hence  would  be  inspired  to  hope  that  the  frequent 
flashes  of  prediction  concerning  a  wonderful  day  of  re¬ 
turn  and  restoration  would  also  be  fulfilled.  The  same 
mercy  that  had  brought  down  the  Jewish  kings  from 
their  thrones  for  oppressing  the  poor  and  outraging  the 

143 


I44 


Men  Unafraid 


downtrodden,  would  also  be  exercised  in  their  behalf  if 
they  would  only  wait  upon  God. 

Moreover,  these  exiles  who  had  previously  been  so 
overawed  by  the  greatness  of  Babylon  had  been 
brought  now  to  close  quarters  with  this  mighty  power. 
Like  a  country  lad  dazzled  by  the  tinsel  of  a  city 
theater  who  is  afterward  taken  behind  the  scenes  and 
disillusioned,  they,  too,  had  been  shown  what  pitiful, 
painted  creatures  these  actors  in  the  imperial  drama 
were.  They  had  seen  the  sewerlike  corruption  of 
Babylon  and  its  internal  strife  and  treachery. 
They  knew  that  as  sure  as  God  was  God  he  must 
destroy  the  city  and  the  despotism  of  which  it  was 
the  center. 

In  addition  the  news  was  brought  by  couriers  of  the 
advance  upon  Babylon  of  the  great  Median  conqueror 
Cyrus,  who  seemed  to  have  a  magic  power  to  carry  all 
things  before  him.  And  we  can  imagine  that  when  this 
cloud,  the  size  of  a  man’s  hand,  appeared  in  the  horizon 
indicating  that  at  last  the  hope  of  restoration  might 
be  fulfilled  there  came  over  this  prophet  such  a  tidal 
wave  of  reassured  faith  in  the  goodness,  power,  and 
eternal  majesty  of  God  as  cannot  be  described  in  hu¬ 
man  language.  This  sense  of  God  which  came  to  him 
was  so  great  and  wonderful  that  it  is  eight  chapters 
before  he  definitely  mentions  the  destruction  of  Baby¬ 
lon  and  the  return  of  the  exiles  to  their  native  land. 
His  new  discovery  of  God  is  far  more  impressive  to  him 
than  his  new  confidence  that  the  captivity  is  at  an  end. 
God  is  so  great  that  the  nations  seem  to  him  but  a  drop 
in  the  bucket,  and  the  isles  are  but  an  atom  in  his  hands. 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration 


J45 


The  Babylonian  rulers  that  had  so  awed  and  terrified 
him  and  his  fathers — they  are  as  nothing,  “yea,  they 
have  not  been  planted;  yea,  they  have  not  been  sown” 
(40.  24).  Instead  of  being  rooted  firmly  and  forever 
they  are  so  ephemeral  that  it  is  as  though  they  had 
never  taken  root  at  all. 

It  is  impossible  for  him  to  conceive  that  this  new¬ 
found  God  should  ever  forget  or  be  discouraged.  “Hast 
thou  not  known?  hast  thou  not  heard?  The  ever¬ 
lasting  Jehovah,  the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
fainteth  not,  neither  is  weary”  (40.  28).  Of  course 
God  will  bless  his  people.  “They  that  wait  for  Jehovah 
shall  renew  their  strength;  they  shall  mount  up  with 
wings  as  eagles;  they  shall  run,  and  not  be  weary;  they 
shall  walk,  and  not  faint”  (40.  31). 

The  obstacles  that  face  Israel  are  as  nothing.  “Every 
valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and  hill 
shall  be  made  low”  (40.  4).  The  thirsty  terrors  of  the 
desert  disappear  from  before  his  face.  Jehovah  will 
“open  rivers  on  the  bare  heights”  (41.  18)  where  there 
is  now  not  so  much  as  a  trickling  stream.  The  utter 
disorganization  and  helplessness  of  Israel  is  almost  an 
advantage  because  it  gives  an  opportunity  for  the  dis¬ 
play  of  the  divine  majesty.  ‘‘Fear  not,  thou  worm 
Jacob.  .  .  .  Behold,  I  have  made  thee  to  be  a  new 
sharp  threshing  instrument  having  teeth;  thou  shalt 
thresh  the  mountains,  and  beat  them  small,  and  shalt 
make  the  hills  as  chaff”  (41.  14,  15).  Fire  and  flood  are 
no  terror  whatever.  ‘‘When  thou  passeth  through  the 
waters  I  will  be  with  thee;  and  through  the  rivers,  they 
shall  not  overflow  thee:  when  thou  walkest  through  the 


146 


Men  Unafraid 


fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burned,  neither  shall  the  flame 
kindle  upon  thee”  (43.  2). 

The  huge  and  awe-inspiring  worship  of  Babylon,  with 
its  great  temples  and  its  gods  reputed  to  have  conquered 
the  world,  becomes  an  object  of  mockery  to  the  prophet. 
He  makes  merry  over  their  worship.  He  taunts  the 
idol  makers  who  have  a  sudden  rush  of  business  when 
the  menace  of  the  invasion  of  Cyrus  darkens  the 
horizon,  and  jeers  at  people  who  think  that  gods  that 
have  to  be  held  upright  by  chains  can  hold  up  their 
worshipers  against  adversity.  He  says,  You  must 
carry  Bel  and  Nebo  around  in  your  processions,  but 
Jehovah  carries  his  people  from  their  birth  (46.  1-4).  He 
laughs  at  the  imbecility  of  the  man  who  goes  to  the 
forest  for  a  tree,  and  with  part  of  it  makes  a  fire  to 
warm  his  hands  and  to  cook  his  broth,  and  the  residue 
thereof  he  maketh  a  god  (44.  14- 17).  He  challenges  all 
the  worshipers  of  idols  to  come  near,  and  demands  of 
them  to  tell  anything  their  gods  had  done  in  the  past, 
to  predict  anything  that  is  to  happen  in  the  future,  or 
do  anything  whatsoever,  either  good  or  bad  (41.  21-24). 

In  this  heavenly  bravado  facing  the  whole  great 
world  the  prophet  foreshadows  Paul’s  challenge  to  the 
universe  in  the  eighth  of  Romans,  where  he  says: 

What  then  shall  we  say  to  these  things?  If  God 
is  for  us,  who  is  against  us?  He  that  spared  not 
his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how 
shall  he  not  also  with  him  freely  give  us  all  things? 
.  .  .  For  I  am  persuaded,  that  neither  death,  nor 
life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  things  pres- 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration 


147 


ent,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  powers,  nor  height,  nor 
depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  (Romans  8.  31,  32,  38,  39) 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

A  new  sense  of  the  immeasurable  greatness  and  glory  of  God 
seems  to  have  come  over  this  prophet  like  a  tidal  wave.  Find  passages 
showing  how  this  wonderful  new  sense  of  God  made  him  see  and  feel: 

1.  The  smallness  of  the  earth  (Chapter  40). 

2.  The  insignificance  of  earthly  judges  and  dignitaries  (Chap¬ 
ter  40). 

3.  The  impossibility  of  thinking  that  God  would  fail  or  become 
discouraged  in  carrying  out  his  great  purposes  (Chapter  41). 

4.  His  obligation  to  bring  God’s  message  not  merely  to  Israel 
but  to  the  farthest  bounds  of  his  little  world  (Chapter  41). 

5.  The  certainty  that  God  would  answer  prayer  (Chapter  40). 

6.  The  certainty  that  in  spite  of  the  insignificance  of  Israel,  Je¬ 
hovah  would  mightily  use  his  servant  for  his  great  purposes  (Chapter 
41  and  elsewhere). 

7.  The  certainty  that  Jehovah  would  amazingly  deliver  them 
under  the  most  difficult  circumstances  (Chapters  41,  43,  and  else¬ 
where). 

8.  The  certainty  that  the  great  conqueror  rising  in  the  east  was 
Jehovah’s  destined  instrument  for  ruling  the  nations  (Chapters  41 
and  45). 

9.  The  certainty  that,  in  particular,  Cyrus  would  overthrow 
Babylon,  the  great  oppressor  of  Israel  (Chapter  47). 

10.  The  certainty  that  the  exiles  would  be  restored  to  their  home 
(Chapter  45). 

Find  passages  showing  how  this  tidal  wave  of  the  Spirit  also  em¬ 
boldened  the  prophet  to: 

11.  Mock  at  the  nations  in  their  feverish  activity  in  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  idols  on  the  approach  of  Cyrus  (Chapter  41). 

12.  Joke  over  the  imbecility  of  the  idolaters  in  making  out  of  the 
same  material  fuel  and  divinities  (Chapter  44). 

13.  Challenge  the  representatives  of  the  idols  to  show  that  their 


148 


Men  Unafraid 


gods  could  tell  what  had  happened  in  the  past,  or  predict  the  future, 
or  do  anything  whatsoever,  good  or  bad  (Chapter  41). 

•  ••••••••••••» 

14.  When  John  the  Baptist,  who  likewise  was  a  herald  of  the 
dawn,  was  asked  to  describe  himself,  what  words  from  Isaiah  40  did 
he  use?  See  John  1. 

15.  With  the  prophet’s  message,  compare  the  great  passage 
where  Paul  defies  the  universe  to  harm  the  soul  that  has  fled  to  Jesus 
for  refuge  (Romans  8.  33-39).  A  most  interesting  modern  poetic 
resume  of  the  message  of  Isaiah  40-48,  combined  with  that  of  Paul 
in  Romans  8,  is  found  in  the  great  hymn,  “How  firm  a  foundation,  ye 
saints  of  the  Lord.” 


THE  SUFFERING  SERVANT  OF  JEHOVAH 

(Chapters  4 9-53) 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  have  seen  how  the 
prophet  looked  to  Cyrus,  the  Median  conqueror,  as  the 
servant  of  Jehovah  for  the  liberation  of  his  people.  But 
we  note  that  he  called  him  God’s  vulture  (46.  11).  He 
had  rough  work  on  hand.  It  was  his  business  to 
pounce  upon  Babylon  and  bring  to  an  end  its  oppressive 
despotism.  The  finer  and  more  spiritual  work  of  bring¬ 
ing  in  the  new  day  is  reserved  for  another  servant 
(42.  1),  and  after  Chapter  49  Cyrus  entirely  disappears 
from  view,  and  this  more  spiritual  servant  of  Jehovah  is 
at  the  center  of  vision.  He  seems  to  take  the  place  in 
our  prophet’s  mind  of  the  great  Messianic  king  of  the 
previous  prophets. 

We  have  here  illustrated  the  way  in  which  the  great 
prophets  of  Israel  grew  in  their  conception  in  the  light 
of  experience,  without  throwing  away  or  discarding  the 
treasures  of  the  past.  The  previous  prophets  had  given 
us  the  wonderful  picture  of  the  imperial  king  conquering 
the  world  and  converting  it  (Isaiah  9.  1-7;  11.  1-5). 
This  man  does  not  throw  that  conception  into  the  dis¬ 
card.  He  preserves  all  its  inspired  elements.  But  his 
king  rises  from  his  throne,  lays  aside  his  purple  gar¬ 
ments  and  his  scepter,  puts  on  his  working  clothes  and, 
like  Atlas,  takes  the  world  upon  his  shoulders.  He 
bears  not  only  the  burdens  of  men,  but  their  sins. 

149 


1 5o 


Men  Unafraid 


How  did  the  prophet  come  to  this  deeper  and  more 
spiritual  notion  of  the  way  in  which  the  servant  of  God 
was  to  save  the  world?  He  came  to  it  as  men  come  to 
all  new  revelations  of  God,  through  experience.  When 
the  Jews  went  into  captivity  it  seemed  to  them  that 
they  had  lost  all  influence  and  standing  in  the  world, 
and  that  the  hopes  of  the  prophets  that  pictured  Je¬ 
hovah’s  king  as  sitting  upon  the  throne  of  David  for¬ 
ever  were  finally  brought  to  naught.  And  yet,  in  spite 
of  this  terrible  strain  upon  their  faith,  many  of  them 
remained  loyal  to  Jehovah,  and  lived  among  their  cap- 
tors  lives  of  triumphant  faith.  As  a  result  they  found 
to  their  astonishment  that  these  captors,  in  spite  of 
their  wealth  and  luxury,  resorted  to  them  for  comfort 
and  guidance  in  times  of  trouble,  just  as  the  slave 
owners  in  America  sometimes  listened  wistfully  to  the 
joyful  hymns  and  the  prevailing  prayers  of  the  blacks. 
The  story  in  the  book  of  Daniel  of  how  the  distracted 
Nebuchadnezzar  could  find  no  one  but  a  Hebrew  to  in¬ 
terpret  his  dreams  when  the  visions  of  his  head  troubled 
him,  is  a  dramatic  illustration  of  what  was  happening 
all  over  the  kingdom  wherever  devout  Hebrews  were 
found. 

This  was  a  glad  surprise  to  the  Hebrews.  Some  of 
their  more  discerning  minds  could  even  see  that  they 
were  really  having  more  influence  as  captives  there  at 
the  center  of  the  world’s  authority  than  they  had  had 
when  their  own  king  was  reigning  in  Jerusalem.  As 
they  meditated  upon  this  fact,  doubtless  with  a  thrill 
of  inspiration,  it  suddenly  occurred  to  them  that  ex¬ 
actly  this  had  been  the  experience  of  all  the  great 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration  151 

prophets  that  had  gone  before.  They  had  come  into 
power  only  after  they  had  faced  the  shame  and  the 
spitting  and  the  martyrdom.  And  one  day  there 
flashed  over  the  mind  of  this  man,  as  by  a  direct  revela¬ 
tion  from  heaven,  the  conviction  that  the  suffering  and 
martyrdom  of  his  servant  was  God’s  method  for  saving 
the  world.  Then  all  at  once  the  dreadful  contradictions 
of  their  present  experience  and  the  terrible  riddle  of 
their  history  had  a  new  meaning,  and  all  these  dark 
facts  arranged  themselves  together  in  harmony  with 
one  great  purpose  of  Jehovah.  Israel  was  to  be  the 
suffering  nation  and  was  to  become  the  reigning  na¬ 
tion  through  its  martyr-like  loyalty  to  the  truth.  It 
was  not  by  dazzling  the  world  that  they  were  to  con¬ 
vert  it,  but  by  bearing  the  burdens  of  the  world  and  the 
sins  of  the  world.  Thus  we  see  that  the  prophet  made, 
as  it  were,  a  lan  tern  slide  of  his  own  experience  of  gain¬ 
ing  power  to  help  men  through  suffering  for  them,  and 
projected  it  big  upon  the  curtain  of  the  future  as  God’s 
missionary  plan  for  the  world. 

How  wonderfully  the  various  descriptions  of  the 
servant  of  Jehovah  seem  to  fit  the  character  and  the 
career  of  Jesus!  He  did  not  “cry,  nor  lift  up  his  voice, 
nor  cause  it  to  be  heard  in  the  street.”  No  loud,  show¬ 
man-like  methods  were  used  in  his  efforts  to  save  the 
world.  He  did  not  break  “a  bruised  reed,”  nor  quench 
“a  dimly  burning  wick”  (42.  2,  3).  It  was  too  light  a 
thing  for  him  that  he  should  be  God’s  servant  “to  raise 
up  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  and  to  restore  the  preserved  of 
Israel.”  He  felt  that  God  had  given  him  “for  a  light 
to  the  Gentiles”  that  he  might  be  his  “salvation  unto 


I52 


Men  Unafraid 


the  end  of  the  earth”  (49.  6).  In  his  loyalty  to  the 
truth,  when  Jehovah  spoke  to  him  the  words  that  would 
be  unwelcome  to  his  generation,  he  “was  not  rebellious, 
neither  turned  away  backward.”  He  gave  his  back  “to 
the  smiters”  and  his  cheeks  “to  them  that  plucked  off 
the  hair.”  He  hid  not  his  face  “from  shame  and  spit¬ 
ting”  (50.  5,  6).  He  grew  up  before  the  Lord  “as  a 
tender  plant,  and  as  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground  (53.  2), 
such  an  environment  as  even  led  Nathanael  to  exclaim 
with  disgust,  “Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Naza¬ 
reth”  (John  1.  46)?  When  he  hung  upon  the  cross  his 
enemies  pointed  to  his  fate  as  an  evidence  that  all  his 
pretensions  to  be  the  beloved  Son  of  God  were  untrue. 
But  as  the  centuries  have  rolled  by  since  his  crucifixion 
the  peoples  of  the  earth  have  increasingly  taken  up  the 
words  of  the  ancient  prophet:  “He  was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities;  the 
chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him;  and  with  his 
stripes  we  are  healed”  (53.  5).  And  just  as  the  Servant 
in  the  prophet’s  vision  after  his  suffering  is  to  receive 
“a  portion  with  the  great”  and  to  “divide  the  spoil  with 
the  strong,  because  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death, 
and  was  numbered  with  the  transgressors  (53.  12),  so 
increasingly  Christ  comes  to  influence  and  to  power 
over  the  nations. 

The  very  heart  of  the  New  Testament  is  embodied 
in  Isaiah  53.  We  study  it  with  a  kind  of  awe,  as  though 
we  were  on  Golgotha,  and  heard  a  voice  saying,  “Put 
off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon 
thou  standest  is  holy  ground.”  Here  is  Paul’s  great 
idea  that  men  are  saved  through  the  cross.  Here  is  the 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration 


*53 


Revelator’s  dream  that  it  is  the  ‘.‘Lamb  that  hath  been 
slain”  who  is  to  have  all  power  and  dominion  (Revela¬ 
tion  5.  12).  Here  is  Jesus’  own  saying,  ‘‘This  is  my 
body.  .  .  .  This  is  my  blood  of  the  covenant,  which  is 
poured  out  for  many  unto  remission  of  sins”  (Matthew 
26.  26-28). 

That  this  prophecy  through  the  providence  of  God 
was  supremely  fulfilled  in  Christ  there  can  be  no  doubt 
whatever.  That  it  was  inspired  as  a  foreshadowing  of 
Christ  we  steadfastly  believe.  As  to  whether,  how¬ 
ever,  the  prophet  visualized  in  his  imagination  a  single 
person  is  another  problem.  Many  of  the  most  devout 
expounders  of  the  Bible,  after  prolonged  study  of  the 
various  passages  in  which  the  phrase  ‘‘the  Servant  of 
Jehovah”  occurs,  are  very  sure  that  he  visualized  an 
ideal  Israel,  somewhat  as  Paul  visualized  the  church  as 
the  body  of  Christ.  Others  are  convinced  that  in  the 
53d  of  Isaiah,  at  least,  he  visualized  at  the  center  of  this 
ideal  Israel  a  single  great  personality.  Important  is¬ 
sues  do  not  hang  upon  the  decision  between  these  two 
views.  The  Revelator  says,  ‘‘The  testimony  of  Jesus 
is  the  spirit  of  prophecy”  (Revelation  19.  10).  That  is 
to  say,  what  Jesus  was  is  what  the  prophets  in  essence 
were  reaching  out  after.  And  we  do  not  greatly  help 
our  cause  by  making  out  that  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
is  also  the  letter  of  prophecy.  Indeed,  in  attempting  to 
do  so  we  often  override  the  plain  facts,  fail  to  convince 
our  hearers,  and,  more  serious  than  all,  obscure  the 
deeper  spiritual  fact  that  Hebrew  prophecy  is  full  of 
divinely  inspired  foreshadowings  of  the  ideals  and 
methods  of  Christ,  and  of  his  salvation.  The  main 


!54 


Men  Unafraid 


point  is  that  by  divine  inspiration  this  prophet  had  hit 
upon  the  principle  by  which  Christ  was  to  redeem  the 
world,  namely,  through  suffering  and  through  the 
cross.  This  is  a  veritable  miracle  of  spiritual  insight. 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

(In  this  lesson  we  have  with  deliberate  purpose,  and  for  good 
reasons,  called  attention  to  the  extraordinary  fulfillment  in  Jesus 
before  taking  up  the  question  of  the  precise  picture  in  the  imagina¬ 
tion  of  the  prophet.) 

1.  As  Cyrus,  the  servant  of  Jehovah,  who  is  described  as  God’s 
vulture  (46.  1 1 ),  disappears  from  view,  another  servant  is  brought  to 
the  front  in  49.  1-7;  50.  4-9;  52.  13  to  53.  12.  In  what  one  outstanding 
particular  does  his  work  differ  from  that  of  the  great  military  con¬ 
queror,  Cyrus? 

2.  Jesus  was  particularly  unostentatious  and  quiet  in  his  meth¬ 
ods  (John  5.  10-13;  Matthew  8.  1-4).  Can  you  find  any  words  in 
Isaiah  42.  1-4  that  might  be  used  to  describe  this  disposition? 

3.  Jesus  was  notably  merciful  with  guilty  souls  reaching  out  for  a 
better  life.  What  correspondence  to  this  do  you  find  in  the  picture  of 
the  servant  of  Jehovah  in  Isaiah  42.  1-4? 

4.  Jesus,  while  mild  in  his  methods,  was  invincible  in  his  de¬ 
termination.  What  words  in  Isaiah  42.  1-4  might  be  used  to  describe 
this  characteristic? 

5.  Jesus  insisted  on  being  more  than  a  mere  Jewish  leader.  He 
deemed  himself  called  of  God  to  be  the  Light  of  the  whole  world. 
Where  do  you  find  the  same  thought  in  Isaiah  49.  1-6? 

6.  Jesus  was  mocked  and  spit  upon  by  the  soldiers.  Do  you 
find  anything  corresponding  to  this  in  the  picture  of  the  Suffering 
Servant  in  Isaiah  50.  4-9? 

7.  What  words  in  Chapter  53  might  be  used  to  describe  Jesus’ 
silence  in  the  presence  of  his  judges  (John  19.  9;  Luke  23.  9)? 

8.  The  rulers  ieered  at  the  idea  of  a  man  who  could  not  deliver 
himself  from  the  cross  claiming  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  They  felt  that 
the  cross  was  a  sign  of  God’s  displeasure  with  Jesus.  What  words  in 
Chapter  53  might  be  used  to  describe  this  attitude? 

9.  What  other  experiences  of  Christ  described  in  Mark  14.  53  to 
15.  47  could  be  aptly  expressed  in  the  words  of  Isaiah  53? 


The  H  ERALD  OF  THE  Re  STORATION  I55 

10.  What  is  the  outstanding  element  in  the  picture  of  the  great 
Deliverer  in  Isaiah  52.  13  to  53.  12,  which  is  absent  from  the  picture 
of  the  Messianic  King  in  Isaiah  11.  1-5? 

•  •••••  •••••••• 

11.  What  experiences  of  the  exiles  themselves  might  have  led 
them  to  conclude  that  the  world  was  to  be  brought  to  faith  in  Je¬ 
hovah  through  the  sufferings  of  his  faithful  servants?  (See  Daniel  3. 
1-30;  6.  4-28.) . 

12.  Examine  Isaiah  41.  8-1 1;  42.  1-4,  and  49.  1-7,  and  decide 
whether  the  servant  of  Jehovah  in  these  passages  is  Israel,  or  the 
ideal  Israel,  or  a  faithful  group,  or  an  individual. 

13.  If  it  should  be  concluded  that  the  writer  of  Isaiah  52.  13  to 
53.  12  had  in  his  imagination  an  ideal  Israel  rather  than  a  single  per¬ 
son,  would  this  force  you  to  say  that  the  passage  is  not  a  prophecy 
of  Christ?  or  would  you  say  that  in  spirit  it  is  a  prophecy  of  Christ 
although  not  in  the  letter?  If  it  were  also  a  prophecy  in  the  letter 
would  that  make  it  any  more  a  prophecy  of  Christ?  Does  the  writer 
of  Revelation  say  that  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  letter  or  the  spirit 
of  prophecy  (19.  10)?  The  New  Testament  says  that  Joseph  of 
Arimathea  was  a  righteous  man  (Luke  23.  50,  51).  With  whom,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Isaiah  ^3,  is  the  Servant’s  grave  to  be  made?  If  this 
mechanical  discrepancy  were  removed,  do  you  think  Isaiah  53  would 
be  really  any  more  convincing  as  a  prophecy  of  Christ? 


THE  IDEAL  JERUSALEM 

(Chapters  54  to  66) 

We  have  already  considered  that  part  of  the  Exile’s 
Book  of  Consolation  which  contains  the  prophet’s 
wonderful  adventure  of  faith  in  believing  that  Babylon 
was  to  be  destroyed  and  the  exiles  to  be  returned  to 
their  native  land,  and  the  succeeding  section  which 
voices  his  conviction  that  the  new  day  would  not  come 
until  the  Servant  of  Jehovah  had  with  his  blood  given 
to  the  cause  “the  last  full  measure  of  devotion.”  It 
now  remains  for  us  to  glance  at  the  prophet’s  statement 
of  the  conditions  which  men  must  fulfill  before  the  ideal 
day  can  be  set  up  in  their  midst,  and  also  to  consider 
some  aspects  of  the  picture  of  that  ideal  social  order 
which  the  prophet  paints. 

The  Prerequisites  of  the  New  Social  Order 

When  the  exiles  returned  from  Babylon  they  seemed 
to  have  been  well  cured  of  idolatry.  But  with  some  of 
them  their  zeal  for  maintaining  complete  separation 
from  the  heathen  manifested  itself  in  a  fanatical  insist¬ 
ence  on  the  peculiar  outward  forms  of  Judaism.  The 
prophet  sets  himself  bravely  against  this  tendency  to 
overemphasize  the  sacredness  of  the  temple  worship 
and  the  importance  of  outward  religious  observances. 
“Thus  saith  Jehovah,  Heaven  is  my  throne,  and  the 
earth  is  my  footstool;  what  manner  of  house  will  ye 
build  unto  me?  and  what  place  shall  be  my  rest?  .  .  . 

156 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration 


J57 


but  to  this  man  will  I  look,  even  to  him  that  is  poor  and 
of  a  contrite  spirit,  and  that  trembleth  at  my  word” 
(66.  i,  2).  These  words  are  rendered  doubly  sacred  by 
the  fact  that  they  were  quoted  by  Stephen  just  before 
his  stoning.  The  thought  is  the  same  as  that  which 
Jesus  emphasized  when  he  said  to  the  woman  at  the 
well,  “Neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  in  Jerusalem,  shall 
ye  worship  the  Father.  .  .  .  God  is  a  Spirit;  and  they 
that  worship  him  must  worship  in  spirit  and  truth” 
(John  4.  21,  24). 

Indeed  the  conditions  of  salvation  for  men  and  for 
society  set  forth  by  these  concluding  chapters  of  Isaiah 
are  in  all  respects  amazingly  similar  to  those  proclaimed 
by  Jesus  and  his  apostles.  The  prophets  say:  “Ho, 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he 
that  hath  no  money;  come  ye,  buy,  and  eat;  yea,  come, 
buy  wine  and  milk  without  money  and  without  price” 
(55.  1).  Salvation  is  not  to  be  obtained  through  sacri¬ 
fices  and  offerings;  neither  is  it  to  be  merited  by  out¬ 
ward  works  of  righteousness.  It  is  a  free  gift. 

But  the  gift  cannot  be  received  without  repentance. 
“Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous 
man  his  thoughts;  and  let  him  return  unto  Jehovah, 
and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him;  and  to  our  God,  for 
he  will  abundantly  pardon”  (55.  7).  This  repentance 
is  especially  to  be  manifested  in  the  righting  of  social 
wrongs.  “Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen;  to 
loose  the  bonds  of  wickedness,  to  undo  the  bands  of  the 
yoke,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  and  that  ye 
break  every  yoke?  Then  shall  thy  light  break  forth  as 
the  morning,  and  thy  healing  shall  spring  forth  speed- 


158 


Men  Unafraid 


ily”  (58.  6,  8).  Jehovah  will  be  pleased  not  by  fasting 
from  food,  but  by  fasting  from  unjust  gains  gotten  at 
the  expense  of  the  poor;  or,  as  we  would  put  it  to-day, 
the  true  way  to  fast  is  to  fast  from  excessive  dividends 
that  come  from  underpaid  workmen  and  from  profiteer¬ 
ing- 

In  immediate  connection  with  the  prophet’s  demand 
for  the  release  of  the  heavy  burdens  on  the  poor,  is  his 
demand  that  the  Sabbath  be  kept  holy.  Some  moderns 
might  think  that  in  passing  from  the  insistence  on  jus¬ 
tice  to  the  poor  to  an  exhortation  on  Sabbath  keeping 
the  prophet  was  passing  from  the  essential  to  the  non- 
essential.  But  the  prophet  saw  deeper.  He  knew  that 
Sabbath  keeping  was  a  matter  of  elemental  morality, 
for  unless  men  by  common  consent  set  apart  and  sa¬ 
credly  observe  times  for  rest,  worship,  and  meditation 
upon  the  law  of  God,  society  inevitably  sinks  into  gross 
materialism,  and  gross  materialism  always  leads  to  the 
oppression  of  the  poor  and  social  immorality. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  note  the  paradox  in  the 
prophet’s  words  about  the  Sabbath.  “If  thou  turn 
away  thy  foot  from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy 
pleasure  on  my  holy  day;  and  call  the  Sabbath  a  de¬ 
light,  and  the  holy  of  Jehovah  honorable;  and  shalt 
honor  it,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine 
own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words:  then 
shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  Jehovah;  and  I  will  make 
thee  to  ride  upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth”  (58. 
13,  14).  They  were  not  to  make  the  Sabbath  a  pleasure 
day,  and  yet  they  were  to  make  it  a  day  of  pleasure. 
One  fancies  he  sees  here  another  protest  against  the 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration 


H9 


legalism  that  had  begun  to  creep  into  the  life  of  the 
people.  The  prophet  did  not  wish  what  ve  call  a 
Puritan  Sabbath.  He  wished  a  day  in  which  Puritan¬ 
ism  was  transfigured  into  joyous  delight  and  worship 
and  social  service.  Or,  in  other  words,  he  was  looking 
forward  to  one  of  the  Sabbaths  of  Jesus,  full  of  the 
thrill  of  a  heavenly  holiday  in  which  the  poor  were 
blessed,  the  sick  healed,  and  all  men  walked  in  the  ex¬ 
hilaration  of  the  Spirit’s  presence. 

The  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  would  give  men  time  for 
intercessory  prayer,  another  condition  of  bringing  in 
the  new  day  which  the  prophet  greatly  emphasizes. 
“Ye  that  are  Jehovah’s  remembrancers,  take  ye  no 
rest,  and  give  him  no  rest  till  he  establish,  and  till  he 
make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth”  (62.  6,  7).  And 
he  himself  will  set  the  example,  for  he  says,  “For  Zion’s 
sake  will  I  not  hold  my  peace,  and  for  Jerusalem’s  sake 
I  will  not  rest,  until  her  righteousness  go  forth  as 
brightness,  and  her  salvation  as  a  lamp  that  burneth” 
(62.  1).  This  man  had  fully  learned  the  lesson  that  it  is 
not  by  the  sword  but  by  intercession  before  the  throne 
of  God  that  men  bring  in  the  kingdom.  Here  again  we 
almost  seem  to  be  in  the  presence  of  Jesus  with  his  great 
parables  about  the  omnipotent  might  of  persistent 
prayer  (Luke  11.  1-13;  18.  1-8). 

The  Nature  of  the  Ideal  Environment 

We  evidently  do  not  have  in  these  chapters  a  blue¬ 
print  of  the  ideal  conditions.  This  is  not  a  textbook  of 
sociology,  but  a  series  of  poems  written  at  different 


i6o 


Men  Unafraid 


times  and  in  different  moods.  The  marvelously  fresh 
and  new  ideas  of  the  prophet  are  emerging  from  his 
Jewish  imagination  like  a  butterfly  from  a  cocoon,  and 
the  picture  which  he  draws  embodies  the  cocoon  as 
well  as  the  butterfly.  The  cocoon  here  is  the  picture  of 
a  glorified  Judaism  at  the  center  of  the  world;  the  but¬ 
terfly  is  the  thought  of  the  reign  of  God  in  the  hearts  of 
all  men  and  the  renewal  of  the  earth  which  this  reign 
makes  possible.  And  it  is  on  the  butterfly  that  we 
must  focus  our  attention.  The  author  of  the  book  of 
Revelation  knew  how  best  to  use  these  poems,  for  he 
made  their  wonderful  separate  phrases  and  pictures  the 
building  material  which  he  pieced  together  after  his  own 
fashion  in  the  construction  of  his  New  Jerusalem.  And 
this  is  the  true  purpose  of  great  poetry  such  as  the 
prophet  has  given  us.  It  is  to  stimulate  our  imagina¬ 
tions  so  that  we  may  freely  picture  the  City  of  God  in 
such  fashion  as  is  most  helpful  to  us. 

Two  points  shine  out  clearly  in  the  prophet’s  pic¬ 
ture.  First,  the  ideal  Jerusalem  is  primarily  and  essen¬ 
tially  a  spiritual  society.  He  had  no  faith  in  the  saving 
power  of  a  mere  outward  environment.  He  says: 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  upon  me;  be¬ 
cause  Jehovah  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good 
tidings  unto  the  meek;  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up 
the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the 
captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound;  to  proclaim  the  year  of  Jehovah’s 
favor,  and  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our  God;  to 
comfort  all  that  mourn;  to  appoint  unto  them  that 


The  H  ERALD  OF  THE  RESTORATION  1 6 1 

mourn  in  Zion,  to  give  unto  them  a  garland  for 
ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  the  garment  of 
praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness  (61.  1-3). 

And  as  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was  upon  him  to  do  this 
work,  evidently  he  expected  the  work  primarily  to  con¬ 
sist  in  the  imparting  of  that  Spirit  to  men. 

But  when  men  repent  and  begin  universally  to  work 
righteousness  and  wait  upon  God  with  intercession  for 
themselves  and  others,  the  prophet  foresees  that  Je¬ 
hovah  will  appear  and  work  miracles  in  the  reconstruc¬ 
tion  of  their  environment.  The  pictures  of  ideal 
physical  conditions,  then,  are  in  a  very  real  sense  to  be 
taken  literally.  When  he  says,  they  “shall  build  the  old 
wastes,  they  shall  raise  up  the  former  desolations” 
(61.  4)  he  surely  means  real  brick  and  stone.  And 
when  he  says,  “I  will  even  make  a  way  in  the  wilder¬ 
ness,  and  rivers  in  the  desert.  The  beasts  of  the  fields 
shall  honor  me,  the  jackals  and  the  ostriches”  (43.  20), 
the  conception  is  quite  literal.  There  are  to  be  real 
springs  in  the  desert  where  even  the  despised  jackals 
may  quench  their  thirst.  His  heart  is  so  full  of  the 
love  of  God  that  even  the  very  animals  must  share  in 
the  joy  of  the  new  day. 

And  yet  sometimes  his  hopes  are  so  burningly  bright 
that  he  bursts  into  hyperbole.  We  hear  him  saying, 
“Behold,  I  will  set  thy  stones  in  fair  colors,  and  lay  thy 
foundations  with  sapphires.  And  1  will  make  thy  pin¬ 
nacles  of  rubies,  and  thy  gates  of  carbuncles,  and  all 
thy  border  of  precious  stones”  (54.  11,  12).  We  are 
here,  of  course,  not  to  bind  him  down  to  the  literal 


i6i 


Men  Unafraid 


meaning,  but  rather  to  stop  and  admire  the  audacity 
of  that  faith  which  visualized  even  the  common  garden 
walls  of  the  New  Jerusalem  as  built  of  jewels. 

if,  as  many  scholars  believe,  these  latter  chapters 
were  written  after  the  return  from  the  exile,  their  ideal¬ 
ism  is  all  the  more  impressive,  for  it  must  have  been 
very  hard  to  keep  up  the  courage  of  the  little  company 
as  they  camped  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  city,  facing  the 
impenetrable  mass  of  briers  and  thorns  that  had  over¬ 
grown  the  fields  and  vineyards,  and  pestered  inces¬ 
santly  by  the  jealous  and  sometimes  murderous  hostility 
of  the  tribes  that  had  settled  in  the  land. 

But  this  vision  was  too  splendid  to  be  confined  to 
Israel  alone.  The  prophet’s  idea  of  God  and  of  the 
simple  demands  of  God  was  such  that  by  an  irresistible 
impulse  he  reached  out  his  arms  of  invitation  to  the 
whole  world.  And  we  hear  him  exclaim:  “Neither  let 
the  foreigner  that  hath  joined  himself  to  Jehovah  speak, 
saying,  Jehovah  will  surely  separate  me  from  his 
people;  .  .  .  For  thus  saith  Jehovah  .  .  .  the  foreign¬ 
ers  that  join  themselves  to  Jehovah,  to  minister  unto 
him,  and  to  love  the  name  of  Jehovah,  .  .  .  even  them 
will  I  bring  to  my  holy  mountain,  and  make  them  joyful 
in  my  house  of  prayer;  ...  for  my  house  shall  be 
called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  peoples”  (56.  3-7). 

SEARCH  QUESTIONS  ON  THE  BIBLICAL  TEXT 

The  Situation  Presupposed  by  Isaiah  54  to  66 

1.  Scholars  assert  that,  unlike  Chapters  40  to  53,  there  are  no 
references  in  Chapters  54  to  66  that  suggest  that  either  the  audience 
to  whom  it  was  addressed,  or  the  writer  of  the  prophecy,  was  in 
exile.  Glance  through  these  chapters  to  verify  this  assertion. 


The  Herald  of  the  Restoration 


163 


2.  Scholars  suggest  that  Chapters  54  to  66  contain  material  that 
was  written  after  the  return  from  exile,  but  before  the  restoration  of 
the  ruined  city  and  the  temple.  Do  you  find  anything  in  Chapters 
54  and  64  to  suggest  that  it  was  written  after  a  time  of  great  destruc¬ 
tion,  and  before  the  destruction  had  been  repaired? 

3.  What  indications  of  impatience  at  the  slow  dawning  of  the 
hoped-for  good  times  do  you  find  at  the  beginning  of  Chapters 
59  and  64? 

4.  What  indication  do  you  find  in  Chapter  56  that  after  the 
return  from  exile  they  were  still  faced  with  the  tragedy  of  incom¬ 
petent,  lazy,  and  drunken  leadership? 

The  Ideal  Jerusalem 

5.  In  what  daring  words  does  the  prophet  in  Chapter  54  predict 
the  brilliant  glory  of  the  ideal  Jerusalem?  Wherein  is  the  picture  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  in  Revelation  21.  10-27  similar? 

6.  Where  in  Chapter  60  is  there  material  which  may  have  sug¬ 
gested  the  Revelator’s  vision  of  the  New  Jerusalem  as  a  city  into 
which  the  kings  of  the  earth  bring  their  glory  and  honor,  a  city  whose 
gates  are  never  shut,  and  which  needs  neither  sun  nor  moon  to 
lighten  it? 

Moral  Requirements  for  Citizenship  in  the  New  Jerusalem 

7.  Ith  as  been  said  that  the  fast  by  which  the  modern  rich  man 
would  best  please  God  would  be  a  fast  from  excessive  dividends  at 
the  expense  of  underpaid  employees.  Where  do  you  find  a  similar 
idea  in  Chapter  58? 

8.  Where  in  Chapter  62  does  the  prophet  show  that  he  has  great 
faith  in  the  power  of  prayer  as  an  instrument  of  social  reconstruction? 
Compare  Luke  18.  1-18. 

9.  It  had  been  very  difficult  to  observe  the  Sabbath  in  Babylon. 
What  indication  do  you  find  in  Chapter  58  that  the  prophet  felt  it 
important  to  re-establish  this  national  custom?  What  two  points 
in  Sabbath  observance,  one  negative  and  one  positive,  does  he  empha¬ 
size  ? 

10.  The  Samaritan  woman  anxiously  asked  w'hich  was  the  most 
holy  place  in  which  to  worship  God  (John  4.  19-24).  Read  Jesus’ 
answer  to  her  and  then  find  something  in  Isaiah  66  that  is  parallel 
to  it. 


164 


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